Children's book reviews, all age comic books, Kidlit, mglit, movies, entertainment and parenting
Whether you call them friends or you call them family, our loved ones help to make life enjoyable. From the people that we share fun times with to the ones we know we can go to for help, loved ones make a difference in this thing called life.
Imagine that you’re an adult who has never been to the beach. It could be for any reason, maybe you live in the middle of the country, and getting to the coast wasn’t an option. Perhaps ‘going to the beach’ is more of a creative exercise, like people might think about the woods as deeply as Henry David Thoreau. For those people, you can say one activity any number of different ways and it counts as a new experience, even though the scenery and actions in doing so are almost identical. It’s not technically a case of double-counting something, but it’s awfully close. 50 Things To Do At The Beach is a beautifully presented book that’s long on aura, education, and presentation. It’s a visually pretty book that is also more at home in a doctor’s office or library, rather than actually being used at the beach.
A caveat must be added to that title, The Suicide Squad is relentlessly enjoyable as a rated-R movie for audiences that know what to expect from such a film. That’s worth saying because I mentioned to my wife that this was a wildly enjoyable movie, but that she would have hated it. Our son started to pepper me with questions, asking if he could watch it and what aspects of the film he would like the most. Having an 11-year-old see a film that is a solid R-rated movie is a personal choice. For him, the violence in the film would’ve been far too much and he would not have understood most of the film’s context or its numerous, very funny sequences. Back in the day, the 11-year-old version of me would purchase a ticket to a generic family film and then sneak into The Suicide Squad. But this is a brave new world; what’s more likely to happen is that kids will watch it on HBO Max, brag to their friends that they saw it, but not really understand what makes The Suicide Squad such a great film.
Upper elementary school kids love the Spy School book series from Stuart Gibbs. One could insert ‘middle school’ instead of ‘elementary’ in that sentence. You could also just simply say that readers aged eight and up love the Spy School book series. It’s an example of an author who can create characters and a story that’s thoroughly engaging, as well as, very smart. Moreover, Gibbs is able to do so at a level that’s not going to scare away young readers due to its big vocabulary, nor adult readers due to being too juvenile. Spy School At Sea is the ninth book in this venerable series that deepens the personal relationships, without showing any age in our young protagonists.
There are many reasons why people could love or dislike Jungle Cruise. It stars Dwayne Johnson! It’s based on a theme park ride. It’s based on a theme park ride! Your negative reasons for liking it could easily be someone else’s reason for enjoying it. As a former WDW park employee, I can see many things to love about Jungle Cruise. The first act is jammed with subtle, meta winks to the audience as the film blurs between movie and self-realization that its premise is an audio-animatronic ride based on puns and adventure. That same period of the film is also wildly entertaining and will remind older movie fans of Raiders and Romancing the Stone.
As the film goes on, it will crib too much from those films, but more on that in a moment.
The Story of the Olympic Games is a bold title for a book that’s geared to upper elementary through middle school readers. As of 2021, the Olympic Games have been around since 1896 and consist of 28 editions that have spanned the globe. Older readers are rightly questioning how a book could encompass such a massive event on arguably the biggest athletic stage in the world. Certainly, key moments would be missed and readers who know the Olympics might quibble about how they couldn’t include this or that. The fact that The Story of the Olympic Games is an engaging book to read is a testament to the adage, ‘brevity is the soul of wit’.
And here I thought Athena was the only Greek Goddess. As previously mentioned I don’t know much about the Greek gods. Young readers or those who simply enjoy an entertaining graphic novel will like Tales of Great Goddesses: Athena, Goddess of Wisdom and War. It’s from Imogen and Isabel Greenberg and details the Goddess of Wisdom as she helps Athens, learns to fear spiders, conceives the Trojan Horse, and more adventures.
For my James Bond fans, imagine showing someone who has never seen a 007 film Skyfall, and then showing them from the campier Roger Moore era movies. The difference in those films is vast, some people enjoy both equally, while others see one as being a better movie than the other. That sums up Black Widow when compared to other action films or MCU movies. This is a movie that would’ve felt more at home if it were released in 2018. That schedule would’ve also allowed audiences to forgive the numerous flaws that live within the film. However, it’s been ages since we’ve been to the movie theater so let’s all go, unless it’s available on Disney + in a couple of weeks for no extra charge.
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