Daddy Mojo

Big Sister, Long Coat, pleasant, albeit forgettable lesson about change

There’s a hazy, fine line between a book that’s relaxing and the same one verging into sleepy. Big Sister, Long Coat is an illustrated book that straddles that line but also runs deeply into the other category, depending on the audience. It’s a book that could easily make for a relaxing story time session on the alphabet carpet at the end of the day, it can also end the day as little ones fade away, but also might escort some kids to slumber when it’s not intended. Big Sister, Long Coat also sounds like the start to a song by Cake that exists in an alternate universe.

Big Sister, Long Coat, uses varying perspectives and stark colors to show two sisters making the most of a day that goes south.

An illustrated book that’s cute, but not classic

Unlocking the Universe, an irresistible look at the Webb Space Telescope

Not knowing something isn’t always a sign of intelligence because sometimes you just haven’t been exposed to the content. Non-fiction ‘illustrated books’ are a great way to introduce things to young readers when their brains are forming their learning pathways. These books are meant for elementary school ages, but defy what people normally think of when they think of them. More often than not, they’re smarter and operate at a higher perceived level then what people expect. Unlocking the Universe: The Cosmic Discoveries of the Webb Space Telescope is living large in that section of the library now.

Unlocking the Universe offers a mix of reference book smarts, illustrated book ease and the wonders of space to ages seven and up.

Smart, but gets smarter and isn’t pretentious

Find Out About: Animal Tools, talk about story time for ages 5-8

Find Out About is a book series by Martin Jenkins with illustrations by Jane McGuinness that focus on certain aspects or characteristics of animals.They’re soft, entry-level books about Animal Babies, Animal Homes an Animal Camouflage, with the fourth book being, Animal Tools. All of these use the same gentle, easy-to-follow nature book template that shows young ages an example, and uses font in two different sizes to drive it home. It’s a read-aloud book that will keep those pre-K kids quiet and the K and first grade students chiming in with their own examples of animal tools.

Find Out About: Animal Tools is a gentle illustrated book that leads with illustrations and drives home the non-fiction with short scenes of animals using tools that get’s kids to think.

animal tools, and not the feeble-minded ones

The Snow Woman and Other Yokai Stories From Japan delivers the folky creeps

Do you remember a couple of years ago when Yo-Kai Watch became a semi-phenomena outside of Japan? For a moment there were a couple of the cool, elementary kids, who were down with a magical watch that allowed them to see ghosts and monsters. The Snow Woman and Other Yokai Stories From Japan is jammed with 77 short stories about ghosts, spirits, mysterious people, samurai, and a handful of recent stories that blur the line between reality, paranoia and tall tales. Japan is an ancient country with thousands of years of history that has yielded stories still woven into folklore and pop culture today. These stories survived for so long due to being handed down or told from one generation to the next. It wasn’t until modern times that these stories, as well as, folktales from other cultures, were written down.

Folk AF and the better for it

Wildlife Crossings-nature born STEM gets kids thinking without realizing it

The extent to which children think about animals crossing the road stopped when they answered the question about the chicken. And even then that query, and its many derisions, are tiresome, repetitive, and work for the five-year-old audience one time only. Wildlife Crossings: Protecting Animal Pathways Around the World is an illustrated book that will fascinate elementary ages and get them to think, yes actually think about something that they’ve never thought about before.

Wildlife Crossing, an illustrated book that wears its STEM on its sleeve, but allows readers to think for themselves.

But what if the chicken couldn’t cross the road?

The Mine Wars is non-fiction on a little-known conflict for mglt audiences

Coal is something whose byproduct we know, yet the process of getting it from the ground is draped in mystery. We know the lights can be powered by coal, our rechargeable batteries too, but most Americans haven’t thought of the history of coal in the United States. Citizens of the United States might know that West Virginia is often synonymous with coal and is dangerous work. Yet the history of coal, involves low wages, brutal treatment of workers, a repressive means of payment, and unscrupulous owners. The Mine Wars: The Bloody Fight for Worker’s Rights in the West Virginia Coalfields tells this story that’s worthy of a mini-series.

The Mine Wars is non-fiction, mglit that shines a light on a little-known subject in American history, the Battle of Blair Mountain, worker’s rights and the coal business.

The Door That Had Never Been Opened Before, a timeless new classic

The Door That Had Never Been Opened Before is an illustrated book with a look. It’s tactile appearance makes you reach out and touch the flat pages within the book as if you want to open the door or flick the characters to see if they’re drawn on a spring and move if you push just a little bit. The story is timeless, and a child’s first encounter with an age-appropriate M.C. Escher illustration. Combine the two and there’s a trippy dippy creative real-along illustrated book that will have the younger ones laughing while you’re reading it, and place a wide, silent grin on the older kids that pick the book up for some alone time when you’re not around.

The Door That Had Never Been Opened Before is an illustrated book that due to its look, has an old soul, and due to its totality is a new classic.

The M.s. Escher vibe is only the start of the fun

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