Daddy Mojo

Jurassic World Dominion, a satisfying movie to the series (that I didn’t see)

“I was four years old when the first one came out”, said the guy in front of me. The lady behind us said that she’d seen all of them and then went on comparing her favorite characters. As a family, we’ve seen Jurassic Park a handful of times, and I’m old enough to have driven myself to the cinema to see it when it came out. Our kids say that they’ve seen some of the other Jurassic films, but I know that the only other one I’ve seen the final half-hour of Jurassic Park III and Jurassic World. As the sixth film in the franchise, Jurassic World Dominion comes out, it serves as a mixed bag but is also a satisfying end to the series, let me explain.

Jurassic World Dominion is above average, a satisfying, fun end to the dino series that left a big footprint. — (from left) Dr. Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum), Dr. Alan Grant (Sam Neill), Dr. Ellie Sattler (Laura Dern), Claire Dearing (Bryce Dallas Howard), Owen Grady (Chris Pratt), Maisie Lockwood (Isabella Sermon) and Kayla Watts (DeWanda Wise) in Jurassic World Dominion, co-written and directed by Colin Trevorrow.

Just smile and enjoy the ride

Germy Science is the cure for the STEM reluctant reader

Some books that cross our desk take a moment or two to peg down exactly who’s the audience for it. Other books hit the nail so squarely on the head that one might question if the book was ghostwritten a member of its intended audience. Gross Science is a series of illustrated reference books from Kids Can Press and Germy Science is the second release within that series. It’s written by Edward Kay and while I’ve never personally met him, his online photo appears to be that of someone who is older than a fifth-grader.

Germy Science is exactly how a fifth-grade student wants to learn about germs and viruses presented with humor and gross facts.

How you, as a 10 YO, would want to learn about germs

Hidden Powers: Lise Meitner’s Call to Science, unexpected power in poetry

Imagine that you love pizza. Granted that’s not a stretch for most people, but let’s establish the fact that you love pizza. Now, you’re given something that has all of the ingredients of pizza, but it’s not circular or square, it’s a rhombus or some other rogue shape that shakes up your otherwise perfect pizza senses. You eat this oddly shaped thing and it tastes great. Then you find out that the crust is made of cauliflower, but it’s great so you keep on eating it. At the end of the pizza, you’re rethinking shapes that previously couldn’t possibly be that greasy wheel that you love so much and are thinking of different shaped food that you could enjoy.

Hidden Powers is the most unlikely of books, one full of narrative poems that add up to a fascinating, non-fiction STEM story.

Pardon us while we ramble-but this excellnet book defies description

Clever Publishing’s My First Spanish board books have a long life

We go to the dentista and read a revista. For some reason, my wife and I still remember that sentence from an early learner illustrated book that taught basic Spanish words. I don’t even remember the name of the book or anything else from it. It was cute and a book that resonated with our oldest child for a season or two. That was an illustrated book, and by its design was intended to be experienced in its totality. It’s not like a reference book where young readers are intrigued enough to open it to any page and thumb around. Clever Publishing has a trio of My First Spanish Books that hit the bilingual nail on the head for a couple of reasons.

Clever Publishing has a trio of My First Spanish board books that are smart enough for sixth or seventh grade, and young enough for crawlers.

This board book series extends through seventh grade for second language peeps

Earth Friend Forever, early elementary illustrated, with laughs and smarts

Funny, as in genuinely producing a laugh, is something that eco books don’t normally do, especially picture books aimed at kindergarten through third grade. However, Earth Friend Forever, manages to produce a laugh or two, in addition to driving home the eco point to those young audiences. It’s an illustrated book on our use of plastic that’s not too heavy, doesn’t speak down to young elementary students, and provides basic ideas on how they can help with the problem.

Earth Friend Forever is a guilt-free, illustrated book that introduces early elementary to too much plastic-and what they can do about it.

A great blance of message, entertainment and smarts

Momocon, mark the 2023 family calendar for this all-encompassing event

“I’ve been taking my sons since here they were that age,” said the lady who checked us in when we arrived at Momocon. She went on to tell me that they now have a local hotel room so that they can enjoy Momocon to its fullest extent. I could relate to her on both levels. Our boys have been attending Momocon since the youngest was three and a hotel room to crash out for a bit would’ve been nice. On an entirely different level, it was great to attend a con again and to that end, Momocon 2022 did not disappoint.

Momocon 2022 proved that the cons are back-in particular, this all age example, focusing on animation, gaming, costumes and comics.

So much fun-and it is for the entire family, yes really.

Lifetime Passes, a sly, graphic novel on friends, life and expectations

Never judge a book by its cover. I led one other review like this and that book, much like Lifetime Passes was nothing like what I thought it would be. From the cover of Lifetime Passes one might think that it’s a group of teen social media savvy vampires who are being escorted through a theme park with their elder queen, who was donning red glasses underneath her umbrella. Had I looked at the back cover I would’ve discovered a more accurate read on what the graphic novel is really about.

Lifetime Passes is a graphic novel that isn’t what you think. This is smart, sardonic, caring and darkly clever for middle school and up.

A darkly comic graphic novel that twists towards the end

Top Gun Maverick, a classic, feel-good great time at the movies

When’s the last time you saw a great movie? And by that I mean, a really great movie that pleased virtually everybody in the audience, regardless of their age, sex or background? Movies like this just don’t come around often. They’ve been replaced by franchise tent films that dependably come around every couple of years and deliver the same level of enjoyment. It was a better than average Marvel film, the last Pixar film was better or some other milquetoast compliment is more often than not how we’ve come to realistically describe movies. Two years delayed from its intended release comes Top Gun Maverick, the sequel to its namesake that was originally released in 1986. Low and behold, Top Gun Maverick is a master class in filmmaking that perfectly combines any element that one could request from a movie. It’s one of the best films I’ve seen and is the complete package in its telling a story that’s wrapped in action and, not to mention, 30+ years removed from the original.