Daddy Mojo

City Spies City of the Dead goes 4 out of 4 in this mglit must-read series

The really great books have readers hoping that the book doesn’t end on a cliffhanger or on some absurd happening. An otherwise fabulous book that’s built up to a satisfying ending cheapens the entire affair when all of the events are for naught. It turns out to have been a dream. A long-forgotten relative appears at the door or they jump off into the sunset to their mortal peril…unless there’s a sequel. City Spies City of the Dead is the fourth book in this series that’s built on its predecessor with ease and a sense of plot satisfaction. It’s done this while leaving clues as to something much bigger that all of the books are building to.

City Spies City of the Dead, City Spies 4, continues to rip around the world as a must-read mglit series that builds and improves the story.

People in your house will wrestle over who’s the first to read it

Little Pea, a super-cute read-aloud book that rises to the challenge

Little Pea is one of those books. It’s a book that’s meant to be read aloud to toddlers through first-grade students. The text is simple. The illustrations are cute, very detailed in a cartoon fashion, and relentlessly happy. With great read-aloud books, the magic happens when you read it and combine everything together. That’s what happens when you read Little Pea to children.

Little Pea is a very simple book with a message crawlers through first will enjoy and grin at, with art that’s as detailed or as simple as you need it to be.

A book in a 3 to eight minute pinch

How Do Meerkats Order Pizza? the must-see non-fiction that kids didn’t ask for

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Ask a kid to learn and they’ll try to weasel out of it. How Do Meerkats Order Pizza?, well, the answer to that is something that I must find out, those same kids will say. This is non-fiction, graphic novel, reference book greatness that puts the fun first, but ensures that you’ll learn something too.

When Things Aren’t Going Right Go Left, a can-do book on positive vibes

If you’re looking for a sign, this is it. I use that sometimes when I teach. I’ll write “Sign” on the board, and put a border around it, then stake it as if it’s posted in the ground. When Things Aren’t Going Right, Go Left is an illustrated book that is rife with metaphors, double-meaning words and positive vibes. It’s an unlikely book that’s an empowering take on how young school-aged children can overcome anything just by thinking in a more positive manner. The book also tackles an angle that elementary students aren’t told enough, and that’s the fact that everybody has something. And that you and your something are OK if you put it down for a bit and give it a rest.

When Things Aren’t Going Right Go Left is a positive, can-do illustrated book about how doubts are normal, but leaving them behind is possible.

WHen lessons and comfort book food intersect

The Planets Are Very, Very, Very Far Away-scale that curious or STEM kids crave

I was talking to a student one day about the approximate distance between Georgia and New York and they had absolutely no clue. Their spatial abilities were suspect at best with them guessing at only a couple of hundred miles to multiple thousands. Space is like that too, except so much more interesting and potentially complex. The Planets Are Very, Very, Very Far Away puts the impossibly massive scale of the solar system into a scope that anyone is able to understand. Author Mike Vago is an author who produces books that are as much of a publishing statement as they are informative, entertaining, or both.

The Planets Are Very, Very, Very Far Away-space scale for curious STEM kids

Vast nothingness turned into curiosity food for kids

Best Shot in the West, a stunning graphic novel for high school and up

The cover to Best Shot in the West looks like a promotional poster for a rodeo or a cowboy recruitment drive. Come join us, see the west, rope horses, and let the only boundaries for what you can become only be limited by your abilities, getting trampled by steer or disease. That was the modus operandi in the late 1800s for those who wanted independence, adventure, or financial freedom back and the superstars who opted for the first two had great nicknames. Nat Love had a great name from the get-go, but his cowboy nomenclature was equally as great, Deadwood Dick.

Best Shot in the West is one of the most beautiful graphic novels that you’ll see, with a (mostly) non-fiction action story that can’t be beat.

The legend of Nat Love in graphic novel art form

King Kong’s Cousin, allegorical fun with silly, contrasting apes

Kids can smell a bad allegory like expired meat that’s been left in the trashcan for three days. King Kong’s Cousin is an illustrated book that’s ripe with allegory but doesn’t have the stench of week-old room-temperature meat. The book will indirectly resonate with those kids that have older siblings, but in reality, any pre-k through middle elementary school reader will grin at the silliness that lies within the book’s big monkey spine.

King Kong’s Cousin is an illustrated book-with great art, at comparing yourself to others and how we’re all great, even if we don’t see it that way.

Get your stinking paws on this book you elementary readers

Retro, wily YA lit that jumps between genres and expectations with glee

Retro, by Sofia Lapuente and New York Times-bestselling author Jarrod Shusterman is an unlikely candidate for the cat video and potato chip challenge. That’s our internal and highly unscientific procedure for reviewing things. Essentially, if you’re able to partake in said thing and are able to read, or do it only one time, then it would fail the potato chip challenge. This is a case where Retro passes the challenge that’s normally reserved for illustrated books and collections of comic strips, in addition to potato chips and cat videos. Just try to watch only one cat video, and you’ll fail quickly, much like trying to read only one chapter from Retro.

Retro is YA lit that’s written for the reluctant reader. It dabbles enough in thriller, relationships and mystery to reel in those who simply want a breezy read.

Retro, read all about it, retro