Daddy Mojo

And Then it Rained on Malcolm, needs more sunshine

And Then it Rained on Malcolm is about a young boy who wants to play, but it’s raining. It rains on him within the first four pages, so if you’re thinking that the title of the book leads up to a grand finale, it doesn’t. If anything, that’s what makes And Then it Rained on Malcolm so frustrating. The illustrations in the book are huge, taking up every square inch in this already massive book-this is one of the great qualifiers for an entertaining children’s book.

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Bricksy is Banksy meets LEGO, in this sublime, witty book

Banksy is one of the world’s most popular graffiti artists. His work often uses stencils to incorporate pop culture and politics into wryly humorous paintings that you’ll see around London. Of course, you know about LEGO, they’re the multi-colored bricks that you can make essentially anything out of. Bricksy is the Unauthorized Underground Brick Street Art your inner brick builder, who is into outsider art always wanted to create.

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New All Age Comic Books for Wednesday, November 11, 2015

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What’s new this week? Well, we saw James Bond, but didn’t catch Peanuts yet, that’ll happen this weekend. In new all age comic books it’s an interesting week with two cat titles, two Scooby Doo titles, two Star Wars titles and lots of classics mixed in.

Teen Titans #13, Superman Adventures trade paperback Vol. 01, SpongeBob Comics #50 and Adventure Time #46 are just some of the classics that complete the list this week.

One of the most popular middle school book series on the planet released their 10^th installment last week too. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Old School is very funny and has Greg getting into all manner of trouble, culminating in him going to a summer camp, where his trouble get worse and are solved by an unlikely source.

It’s also just over a month before the new Star Wars film comes out, so expect a slew of cool comics, reissues, products, waffle makers and chopsticks with the Force in full effect, but we’re not complaining.

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Laurie Berkner’s Favorite Classic Kid’s Songs, fun for all

The title to her latest release is Laurie Berkner’s Favorite Classic Kid’s Songs. Based on the title alone it wasn’t a release I was interested in hearing. Our kids are 4 and 6; they’re all but out of the ‘kid’s song’ period of life. They like their kindie with a little more edge, played with flannel shirts, cloudy weather and a side of espresso thank you very much. Apparently I was trying to demo my kids out of Laurie Berkner a little too quickly; because after the first listen they had their favorite songs and the classics brought new life to songs I thought were relegated to lullabies.

Let’s face the elephant in the room. When you hear the title ‘Favorite Classic Kid’s Songs’ you immediately think lullabies; sleepy songs for infants who need something calming to get them to sleep. However, out of the 57 songs on this release only six could really be classed as lullabies. The rest of the songs are mid to up-tempo classics that you didn’t know your children needed to hear.

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Spectre, a mixed result of the best (and worst) of James Bond

There is a James Bond movie curse. It loosely states that every other Bond film won’t be as good as the next one. Much like back-to-back winning seasons are elusive for some sports teams are difficult, so are the Bond films that improve on quality for more than two films. Spectre falls into this category unfortunately. It’s not a bad film, but just like you rarely eat bad pizza, this particular one isn’t as good as the one before it, but it’s still OK.

Spectre is a mixed bag because it goes back to Bond’s past, which is not necessarily a bad thing. Many of my favorite Bond films were in the camp-era of Roger Moore. They were fun, spy films that were engaging and seen through the proper lens are still entertaining today. Sure the acting and some of the scripts were suspect, but they were fun and had globe-trotting adventures of 007.

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Voyagers is a multi-format book series that middle schoolers will love

Hey, we were provided with samples for review. Prizes for the #Giveaway are done by Random House Children’s Books. When is a book not a book? It sounds like that dopey riddle on the back of a bubble gum wrapper, the answer was always “when he turns into a store”; but in this case it’s a book that open up to more options. Voyagers is a book series that has a sister app with quizzes, games and activities on smart devices. It’s a logical extension of the publishing world that wouldn’t add up to much if it weren’t entertaining or well done.

Voyagers is a six-book series that puts Earth in an emergency crisis with all of its energy drying out within the next 100 years. The only solution is for a group of space explorers, who are under 12 years old to go to six different planets to look for the power elements that could save the planet. Eight kids are competing for 4 positions on the ship that will take them on the trip. They compete in a training program where their puzzle skills, leadership and team work are all tested in order to ensure that the best candidates are chosen.

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This is why you should not adopt Snoopy

If you like Peanuts then you love Snoopy. Snoopy is the beagle flying on the Sopwith Camel that has entertained generations of people. However, it’s very possibly that you should not adopt Snoopy. Yes, the beagle is super cute, has a small frame, is very easy going and great with kids, but you shouldn’t rush out to adopt one just because you fell in love with Peanuts again. Here are the pros and cons of adopting a beagle like Snoopy.

First off it’s important to note the timing. After every major movie release and natural disaster people want to adopt “the” pet. After Hurricane Katrina people were moved to adopt a ‘Katrina’ pet. We would say that those animals were in quarantine, but we have lots of other great animals. “No thanks” was quite often the response. The same goes for the aftermath of every major natural disaster where pet evacuations were needed and rescue organizations transported pets from there or accepted them in a safe area.

When an animal themed movie is released it opens up a floodgate of curiosity about the breed. 101 Dalmatians was released and animal shelters around the country received requests about Dalmatians. “I’m sorry, we don’t have any Dalmatians, but we do have dozens of other great dogs”, their response was the same as the people who wanted a ‘Katrina’ pet. The same goes for any Chihuahua, Shaggy Dog or erstwhile Benji-looking breed out there.

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Quality children’s shoes, unicorns and how to tell if you have some

We have two boys, aged 4 and 6. When Jake, our oldest turned 6 he needed a new pair of shoes. He’s active, but not one of those super active, plays three sports a day active. Picture the average kid, running around the yard, throwing the ball, riding the scooter and you get an idea as to how much wear he puts on his shoes. Any shoe will do and he’s keen into the light up shoes, so we went with Pup Patrol light ups that we bought at Target for $24. Within 15 days the shoes were beyond recognition, the bottom tread was entirely gone and there were multiple tears in the shoe itself. Here is what we learned about children’s shoes.

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