Investigators: Heist and Seek, a pun-laden, mandatory graphic novel for 8 and up

It’s great to see things mature and evolve as new books come out in a series. Investigators is not that book series. Instead, Investigators came into the all-age graphic novel space as a plucky, genuinely very funny elementary school book that older readers will also want to jump into. When the first Investigators graphic novel came out we said something along the lines that it was the next must-read book series for elementary school readers and that there was a new captain (underpants) in town. Now, five books after their debut, Investigators: Heist and Seek is still providing dependable, smart laughs, all the while making young readers enjoy something that they need to do.

Investigators: Heist and Seek is the sixth book in this mandatory graphic novel series for ages 8 and up. It’s smart, funny, positive and one that kids will seek out and share.
#6 and still rolling in the wit

Episode 29: All age comic books for September 7

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This week in all-age comics books check out Gustav & Henri, My Travels in Japan, Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur, Cupcake Diaries and more. 

00:00 Midtown Comics in NYC,

01:39 Previews World,

01:55 Gustav & Henri on Red Comet Press,

02:51 Batman Returns One Dark Christmas on Insight Editions,

04:05 My Travels in Japan on Tuttle Publishing,

05:33 Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur TPB on Marvel Publishing,

07:27 Cupcake Diaries, Katie and the Cupcake Cure graphic novel on Simon Spotlight,

09:08 The Baby-Sitters Club, Jessi’s Secret Language graphic novel on Graphix, 

10:14 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #132 on IDW Publishing,

11:39 Dark Knights of Steel: Tales from the Three Kingdoms on DC Comics, 

12:42 Usagi Yojimbo Saga TPB Vol 5 on Dark Horse Comics, 

This is a School will be a staple in elementary school libraries

This is a School is a picture book that seemingly every school librarian and teacher was talking about during the start of the school year. Starting the process of going to school can be quite scary for those young students. Going to school can also be a very exciting time. Sometimes, when the emotions of ‘scared’ and ‘excited’ combine it creates a troublesome experience for educators and parents called chaos. This is a School is a gentle, go-to picture book that introduces elementary school for those ages who are young enough to envision it as a mysterious place of wonder.

This is a School is a picture book that introduces pre-k kids and those slightly older to the wonders, fun and routines that makeup the school day.
This is the pre-k, intro to school book that you’re looking for

Coming Up Short is catch-all realistic fiction for the mglit set

One reason why mglit realistic fiction is challenging for some middle school readers is that life is not always 100% happy. There are sad, chaotic, confusing, and disappointing moments that everyone lives through. On the surface, those feelings don’t exactly roll out the reading red carpet to those 12-year-olds who are juggling their own personal issues, locker combinations, family issues, school work or sports. However, dig just a bit past the surface and those readers will discover that their issues, despite how unique and utterly end-of-world they might seem, actually have commonalities with realistic fiction characters. Coming Up Short easily falls into that category. It’s mglit that seems unique, end-of-world, and happens in a place where it could never really happen, but again, dig just a bit past the surface.

Coming Up Short is mglit that middle school readers will reach for, combining sports, family, competition, stress and poor decisions.
Mglit realistic fiction that stretches past the usual suspects

Onyeka and the Academy of the Sun is Potter Wakanda-tastic

A book series doesn’t exist unless the first book is any good and merits a sequel. Gone are the days when that was the modus operandi for books, not to mention those manuscripts that were lucky enough to become film. Now umpteen streaming services need content and that content must come from somewhere. Onyeka and the Academy of the Sun is the first in a series of books by Tola Okogwu that was optioned for Netflix before the book was even released. Its story is perfectly summarized by the publisher’s blurb ‘Black Panther meets X-Men’, as a book that is 100% and this is mglit that knows its target.

Onyeka and the Academy of the Sun is a book series that’s tailor-made for Black girls in upper elementary, Potterheads and superhero people.
Fans of Potter, Wakanda and MGlit will dig this

Molly and the Machine, mglit that works well for ages 8 and (way) up

Mglit does not have to be based in the 80s to be entertaining. I say that because it seems that a couple of the books that we’ve read recently have had ties to that fabulous decade. Certainly, a major reason for that is the absence of screens. There’s no device that kids have to occupy them, solve their problems, do their research or look at pictures of giant robot footprints. That’s what Molly from Molly and the Machine might’ve done when she first started her adventures. It’s an mglit book that takes off its shoes and wades knee-deep in the river of fun reading. This is also an example of mglit that skews younger, allowing ages eight and up the chance to enjoy the adventure.

Molly and the Machine is a true mglit book that those mid-elementary readers are able to read, yet hold interest for middle school students also.
A book that’s friends with Spy SChool

Words of the World, multilingual board book fun

In my opinion, one of the greatest keys to job security is being able to speak more than one language fluently. While it’s not bulletproof, it does assure you of having another channel from which to market whatever it is that you’re doing. The key to getting children primed to speak more than one language is immersing them in that second pool as quickly as possible. Words of the World is a series of board books aimed at those newborns through five-year-old kids. They have simple words in seven of the world’s most-spoken languages that are accompanied by collage artwork done by Motomitsu Maehara.

Words of the World is a series of multilingual board books that combing basic words to collage images representing them in six, go-to languages.
Board books with brains and without boarders

I’m a Neutrino, STEM-based, illustrated wonderment for ages 4-8

Assuming that an illustrated book is fact-based, and not some interpretive trip about what a cloud looks like, adults shouldn’t need to be told what it’s about, should they? Ah, dear reader, these are times when board books can be about quantum physics and illustrated books can tell true tales about things that you never learned about in school. So, no, sometimes adults will read an illustrated book and still have no idea as to how to describe, talk about or understand what they just read, but that’s ok. In the end, we all want this generation to be smarter and better than us, don’t we? To that end, I’m a Neutrino, Tiny Particles in a Big Universe is a beautifully illustrated book about a tiny thing that you’ll never see, yet there are billions of them zipping around us at any moment.

I’m a Neutrino is an illustrated book that’s probably smarter than you, but that’s ok. Kids will like it, think about the possibilities and use that seed to better us all.
Fear not the illustrated books that you need help understanding

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