Don Quixote charges at the windmill, raging at the fact that people don’t read enough. “This is actually good”, said a ninth-grade student of mine today as they were thinking about the two-page article they’d read. Granted, I had just spoken to them about their less-than-stellar grades and they were probably trying to placate me, but I’ll take it as a win. This all leads to Rebellion 1776. This is historical fiction that cooks at a slow boil, but is bubbling over the sides of the pot before you realize it.
There are certain markers that define cultural zeitgeists. A Minecraft Movie is one of those instances. As a video game launched in 2011 it has a built-in fan base of millions of kids. Some of them will be knee-deep in their appreciation and fandom, others are about enter it and some stopped playing it in lieu of other games. Our family has two kids in the Minecraft interest world, both of whom had different reactions to AMinecraftMovie.
It’s easy to misinterpret a book; these are interesting times aren’t they? Bad Badger: A Love Story is the sort of emerging reader chapter book that has the potential to be loved, but can also struggle to find its people. At its core, Bad Badger is a sweet story about friendship, but tells the story through a very smart lens with a bigger vocabulary and a more mature, nuanced setting that will reward those who have the patience for it.
Whenever I substitute for a math or music class I run the students through a basic critical thinking question. What are the two universal languages that can be understood anywhere you go? On average one, maybe two students in a class of 28 will respond with music and math. Some might say “science” and while that’s not the desired response, it does illustrate the room’s temperature. Black Lives: Great Minds of Science is a graphic novel highlighting nine scientists from various fields. As a vehicle for information it grabs your attention and speaks to upper-elementary and mglit readers in a way that motivates reluctant ones.
Those reluctant readers, you know, the kids who secretly want to read, but have bought into the group-think, lemming-like fallacy that reading somehow makes you less cool. To those students I would posit this simple question, is it cool to earn more money, or less money? Yeah, money doesn’t make you happy, it’s just a tool, I know that. But if you’re going to fix or build something you need the correct tool and sometimes, if it’s a bigger job, you need more tools or the job becomes infinitely more challenging. Great Minds of Science is created for those reluctant readers.
Fan is short for fanatic. Taylor Swift’s fans are very passionate. Donald Trump’s fans are very passionate also. Lebron James has been playing basketball for decades and has legions of fans. Fan is something that’s used passively and meant as more of a way to build a tribe of like-minded people. People who support certain politicians, as well as, musical artists or celebrities can be fanatical. Fanatical is the adjective form of the word and is applied in more of a negative way for those who take their support of things to illogical extremes. Lebron James In His Own Words Young Reader Edition and Taylor Swift In Her Own Words Young Reader Edition are two different books from the In Their Own Words book series aimed at young readers. Both of these books are for young fans of each personality whose traits range from fan to fanatic.
The problem with a Paul Tobin book is that you want to read every word. That’s not really a problem per se, but you want to get to the end of it so that you can find out how all of this silliness ends. And we mean that in the fondest of ways. My Vampire vs. Your Werewolf takes a premise that elementary ages, middle school students and RPG gamers have kicked around since they were first staked or howled at the moon. The moment you mention the title your mind starts to play out how they would fight, what environment would be friendliest to each monster and how could such a battle realistically take place without attracting massive amounts of attention.
Young readers and reluctant readers have more in common than they think. Reluctant readers in most cases just think that they don’t want to read. Assuming that we’re talking about young, elementary school ages, both groups have to find the vehicle that can get them to realize that reading is not punishment. It’s got to be a book so relentlessly fun, over the top silly that it commands young people to engage in something by themselves, for their own enjoyment. The First Cat In Space Ate Pizza is the first book in the series that takes its rightful place alongside Dog Man and Investigators as the go-to graphic novel series for ages seven and up. This book also came out a couple of years ago, so if you’re judging as to why it’s just being reviewed now, I say be curious, not judgmental.
So, you’re telling me it’s not a problem if I wander without direction or purpose through life? No, that is not what the book, nor I, are saying that’s what you should do or how you should act. It’s Okay Not to Look for the Meaning of Life: A Zen Monk’s Guide to Living Stress-Free One Day at a Time sounds like it could be an alternate title to a Korean drama or a positive affirmation statement you’d see in a middle school. However, in the latter situation, those students might’ve taken it as a carte blanche to do even less than their doing now. This is not a Spicoli get-out-of-jail-free card, it’s simply a book that encourages you to take a step back and think.
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