Elementary school | Page 5 of 21

The Mighty Bite: Walrus Brawl as the Mall!, absurd so good

That song from Mellencamp is so overplayed in the summer. Is it that terrestrial radio plays certain songs more during that time of year, or are you simply listening to the radio more? In other news, have you ever not had something because the other thing you consumed from that entity was so good? We eat at a pizza place like that. Their pizza is so great, but I’m hesitant to order other things off the menu out of fear that it wouldn’t measure up to the thing I already like from them. Nathan Hale has a pizza place, it’s called Hazardous Tales. They’re a series of non-fiction graphic novels that makes American history entertaining and allows upper-elementary through high school and older the chance to actually enjoy learning through reading. When I first saw The Mighty Bite from Nathan Hale I immediately knew it was from his kitchen, but I didn’t try any of it. The Mighty Bite: Walrus Brawl at the Mall! is the second entry in this series and proves that you need to try new things on the menu. Not only is Walrus Brawl at the Mall! a great graphic novel for fans of Hazardous Tales, it enters the all-age graphic novel smackdown and lays competition to Investigators and Dog Man.

The Mighty Bite: Walrus Brawl at the Mall! is the second in this graphic novel series that adds its name to the must-read club for ages 8 and up.

Extemporaneously speaking

Simone has promise and a great story, but a side agenda of obvious also

Children almost certainly don’t think of books as a gateway to a different world or an opportunity to learn something in a second-hand, entertaining manner. Granted, those two takeaways are a major reason why people enjoy reading books, but to some young elementary ages books are more of a thing that you have to do, and doing things under duress is very rarely cool. Simone is not the first illustrated book that mid to upper-elementary students will look for. Its indistinct cover implies nothing about the book’s plot. All you see is an Asian girl with a sketchbook and paintbrushes, wistfully looking out as waves of colors bend ahead of her.

Simone has beautiful art and a unique, approachable story, but comes with a lesson or agenda that elementary ages know ad nausea.

The art is effective, the story is ok

What Can a Mess Make?, timeless read-aloud that soothes pre-k – 2nd grade

There is a difference between a mess and being messy. Likewise, something dreamy does not mandate that it is sleepy. Unless it’s meant to be read at bedtime, a sleepy illustrated book is not ideal for describing something you want kids to enjoy. Any child can make a mess, yet every child is not messy. What Can a Mess Make? is an illustrated book about a pair of sisters who make the most of their messes via creativity, sharing, forgiveness, patience and life.

What Can a Mess Make? is an illustrated book that brings the feel-goods and constant smiles as comfort food for ages four through eight.

The feel-good times of constant smiles and happy memories await

A Tour of the Human Body, factoid fun for grades 1-4

For a period in every elementary student’s life, they are factoid machines. They have competition between themselves to seek out and parrot one or two-line facts about animals, the more disgusting, bizarre or unknown, the better. This is the age of the exception. Kids may not be able to tell you how many ounces are in a pound, but they’ll be able to tell you at a moment’s notice that you swallow an average of 1,500 pounds of food a year. A Tour of the Human Body: Amazing Numbers-Fantastic Facts is an illustrated book that introduces elementary-aged students to this bag of flesh, organs and bones that accommodate us during our time on Earth.

A Tour of the Human Body is an illustrated book that introduces this complex bag of bones and muscles to kids aged 5-9.

Factoids, the life blood of early elementary shool kids

The Worst Wizard: Awkward Magic, a truth mirror for some reluctant readers

Elementary school students don’t know what a trope is. They might quickly lose interest in a story that’s played out or too familiar, but they can’t say that they weren’t interested in it due to the tired use of its trope. The Worst Wizard: Awkward Magic is reluctant reader food that flies in the face of the plot devices that are trying to drag it down. Wizards and those who don’t realize that they are yet can be an overplayed device in children’s literature. However, kids also want to read about wizards and the underdogs who might become them. You can see how the window of opportunity in capturing young readers in these books can be challenging.

Aye, ye be a reluctant reader mate?

Exoplanets, STEM that reaches wide from elementary to high

Exoplanets: A Guide to the Worlds Outside our Solar System is illustrated wonderment at the planets that reside in another neighborhood.

Somehow or another, Exoplanets: A Guide to the Worlds Outside our Solar System snuck past my review radar. Oh it landed in our office, but it gravitated towards our reference books and not in the ‘new’ books to review area. Exoplanets prematurely made its way into our ‘forever’ book stack, instead of the working book column that gets cycled through and written up. It certainly would’ve helped had we read Exoplanets when it was initially released because at that time we were planning our 2023 Dragon Con interviews. At that event we chatted with a handful of scientists researching conditions on various planets and the propulsion methods that astronauts would use to get there. Even though Exoplanets is an illustrated book, a medium that’s stereotypically thought of as a children’s book; it’s testament to the equally correct belief that just because the book is intended for children, it can reach far beyond its target audience.

Space, the frontier is calling you.

Welcome to Camp Snoopy is Peanuts lit for the Apple TV+ and more

We don’t have Apple TV+. It’s nothing personal against the streaming giant; it’s just that we can’t have every platform because that would nullify any savings that we earned from cord-cutting. However, if I were in early elementary school, and had control over the streaming options in our house, Apple TV+ would certainly be in the first two because of Camp Snoopy. Welcome to Camp Snoopy is a graphic novel compilation from Camp Snoopy, the aforementioned show. It’s a collection of short stories, lessons, and vignettes that the campers encounter during their stay at summer camp.

Welcome to Camp Snoopy is the print, graphic novel-esque compilation of some of the story lines from the Apple TV + show.

We’d buy snippets of Snoopy’s backpack lint

Little Mouse’s Encyclopedia, intersects entertainment and learning

There’s something about the cover to Little Mouse’s Encyclopedia: A Picture Book About The Wonders of Nature that perfectly translates how easily the book can cross over to different ages and cultures. It’s from the perspective of a little mouse, albeit a very intelligent one, who is exploring the things around her burrow. All the while a narrator is providing some expository comments as to why she’s doing things, in addition to offering smarter-than-expected facts about the flora and fauna that the mouse encounters on daily basis.

Little Mouse’s Encyclopedia is a STEM-based story picture book for elementary ages about the wonders that exist in the dirt around us.

Fun and edcuation exists herein