Category: Entertainment

I love pizza. However, after having eaten pizza for more than a couple of decades I’ve realized that while bad pizza is almost impossible, there certainly are varying degrees of its caliber or preference. Dragons Get Colds Too is a book about being sick, acknowledging that you’re sick and hopefully, respecting the caregiver who is assisting you. If this book were a pizza place then it’d be a pleasant enough place with OK tasting pie that fills you up, but isn’t one that you’d visit unless it wan on the way to where you’re going.

The premise of the Dragons Get Colds Too is certainly one that any parent can relate to. There’s a sick patient who isn’t being the best recipient of care that’s being offered to them. It’s a situation that is ripe for comedy and lessons that can hopefully be learned by younger readers.

The book is told in a step-by-step process where the girl is being instructed by a doctor and their book on what to do for the dragon. The issue for us, and our 7YO reader, is that the book felt stilted and lost its rhythm every time the narrator and their book popped up on the page. In some books the narrator moves the book along nicely, however, in this book it’s more confusing and distracting than an asset to the story.

There are some humorous physical elements that the book brings up about caring for something as large as a dragon. They breathe fire, their neck is impossibly long and their snot is especially gooey. The illustrations are clever enough, everybody loves a dragon right? However, the book moves so slowly that few audiences, except for the dragon die hards and those looking for a children’s illustrated book about being sick will want a repeat reading.

It also has lots of white space on the pages. Granted this is a pet peeve of ours, but I find that pages with more color tend to capture and hold the attention of young readers more effectively. If you’re a fan of dragon books, buying books for a doctor’s waiting room or for the kid’s renaissance fair this book is for you, otherwise, it’s one that you’ll want to get from the library.

A couple of years ago my wife and I went out for date night. It’s that mythical time where moms and dads leave the kids at home then out with other parents, get a drink and eat food with too much cheese. When we got home, part of our conversation led me to say, “the journey is the destination”. Mind you, this was years before I heard it used as a luxury car tagline. But, when I said it, my wife commented that it made sense, we weren’t headed to a big finale, rather; life is the little things that we do and encounter on the way. Secrets of Topsea, The Extremely High Tide! By Kir Fox and M. Shelley Coats is a book that fits that description.

This is the second book in the Secrets of Topsea series and it solidifies the tone that the authors are going for. I’ll readily admit that I didn’t get the first book in the series, A Friendly Town That’s Almost Always by the Ocean. I thought it was slow, pointless, weird and rather aimless.  

With The Extremely High Tide! I get it now-and so will any middle school readers who latch onto this series. As it wears its weirdness as a superhero cape you don’t really need to read the first book to understand what’s going on.

Talise is a fifth-grade student who knows a lot about the ocean. She also has a pet sea blob and has a fear of rubber ducks. As the book starts we see the class by the seaside. Not long after that Talise finds a bottle with a note in it. The note has a drawing of a boat and Talise takes that as an omen that she should build a boat.

This is where the ‘journey is the destination’ aspect factors in. The boat and the journey to build it seems like it’s a main plot point. However, the main thing that ties the characters together is friendship, albeit a friendship that’s painted across all manner of oddities. Parents will also enjoy this series because it manages to keep young reader’s attention without any potty humor. Granted, potty humor is more of a low elementary thing, I’m sure it’s just our upper elementary reader who can’t seem to squeeze it out of his system.

Another thing that the book does well is to balance the interest between boys and girls. The main character is a girl, but it’s not set against a Lilith Fair quilt. Girls will enjoy it more than boys, but not by much. It’s odd and creative to where the overwhelming vibe of the book is trippy, fun and silly-without being sophomoric.

The chapters are presented in a creative, unpredictable fashion with some pages pushing the story forward. Other chapters are short newspaper clippings or the cafeteria menu. In other words, it’s a format that middle school readers will be immediately attracted to, because the journey is the destination.

Sometimes I squeal when books arrive. I let out a small one when Crafty Llama arrived at the office. This is not a book that was on my radar. I knew nothing about it. Yet, when I saw the cover something about this children’s illustrated book seemed so warm and comforting it simply felt like something we already knew. And, to be clear, I don’t mean that in the sense of old and repetitious. This was more of a comfort food feeling, for example, a food that I eat when I need solace, like clam chowder on a cold winter day….in case you’re in the area.

Crafty Llama is by Mike Kerr with illustrations by Renata Liwska. Its subtitle is, A story about crafting, friendship and the very best gifts. The book starts with Llama walking home on a warm summer day. When she gets home she knows that there are legitimate things that need to be done around the house like laundry, vacuuming the fireplace, putting WD-40 on the doors or straightening up the garage. She knows those things need to be done, but she spies a massive ball of yarn, conveniently the same color as her…, so she starts sewing something. When Llama is not sure what to do she sews so that she can clear her mind.  

Before long some of her forest friends show up. They each bring their unique set of skills to help her. The turtle, elephant, wolf and more all show up to add elements to whatever she’s sewing. Some animals provide ideas on what she can craft. Everyone helps except for beaver, who’s not sure how he can help so he chews on a tree so that he can clear his mind.

It’s a social afternoon with all of the animal friends sharing, being silly and having fun.  By the time night rolls around Llama has knitted a very nice blanket, which she promptly shares with one of her buck-toothed sleeping friends.

  Crafty Llama is a slice of illustrated book heaven for crafty kids 4-8. The illustrations are soft, warm and will delight (and calm…) young readers as they drift off to sleep land. This is a great good-night book for those younger kids in this spectrum. It’s short enough to re-read more than one time a night, but also long enough to qualify as the “one book” that you’re reading after a long day.