Children's book reviews, all age comic books, Kidlit, mglit, movies, entertainment and parenting
Someplace, somewhere, there is a doctor’s or dentist’s office waiting for a copy of It’s Busy Down in the Woods Today. Wait, the mere thought of associating those offices with the book might put off the pre-K or kindergarten crowd. Instead, let’s say that It’s Busy Down in the Woods Today: Friends to Meet, Places to Explore and over 100 Things to Find is the rabbit hole, busy time, chill-out companion that young, manic minds need, even though they may not want it.
As a younger man I was always skeptical of biographical movies because you always know how they end. Since then, my thoughts on entertainment have evolved somewhat as to what makes a movie entertaining. That same qualifier has never existed for books, even when it came to children’s literature. The Music Inside Us is the story of world-renowned cellist Yo Yo Ma. It’s a safe bet most elementary school ages don’t know Yo-Yo Ma, much less what a cello is or can isolate its deep, soul searching sounds were they to hear it. As an illustrated book, The Music Inside Us is not a typical biography. Instead, it opens the book by asking a question about the purpose of music. This soft introduction works in partnership with the art that is realistic, painted, and muted in all the right ways.
Lost in a Book is easy to love. It’s easy to love being lost in a book. I have taught many students who have told me, with a glimmer of pride, they’ve never been lost in a book. Sometimes they’ll shake up that statement by saying that they don’t read books. Personally I love it when they say that because I’ll immediately say, “ignorance is nothing to be proud of” or something off the cuff that will make the class laugh and put the bully down a peg. It’s a different scene when you’re in elementary school because that is a time when your reading can shine. Ideally, it’s the time when you’ll learn to love to read, and Lost in a Book is the sort of vehicle that will accommodate that.
Time is a tricky concept because it’s abstract, can be a noun or a verb, and is countable or uncountable. It’s About Time!: Big Ideas That Changed the World is the sixth in this graphic novel series and is almost as audacious as that Egyptian who suggested dividing a day into 12 parts. The ancient Egyptians counted on their three mid-fingers, as well as, their pinky, plus two of the knuckles on their pinky. But time and people needing to record it for one reason or another didn’t start with them. It’s About Time takes the 500-pound confusing gorilla and tackles it head-on. The graphic novel makes an esoteric topic like ‘time’ interesting, makes young readers think and doesn’t pretend to know all of the answers.
Just One Wave: A Picture Book is the illustrated book result of a child’s frustration, and creativity about going to the beach when there aren’t any waves. Kids want big waves, but they’re rightly scared of them. However, if the waves are too small, or non-existent, then it can act as fuel for a child to act out or complain. This is especially true for those who go to the beach at a lake. Just One Wave’s author is Travis Jonke who lives near Lake Michigan, and it’s a logical leap to imagine that the body of water in this book is in his backyard.
I love Phineas & Ferb. I’m convinced that a generation of scientists will reference it as a main inspiration for their endeavors and inventions. I also enjoy Ren & Stimpy. What if the former had a tiny sprinkle of the rudeness and over-the-top insanity of the latter? The Mighty Bite: Hog-Rocket Ruckus is the graphic novel representation of this idea. It’s incredibly smart. It’s also incredibly silly. At times, it’s just a little bit rude and noisy, but never enough to make parents or librarians lower their brows. Hog-Rocket Ruckus is the second book in The Mighty Bite book series that we’ve read, and the third overall. There’s something about Hog-Rocket Ruckus that will speak to some upper-elementary and older readers.
From the moment adults catch a glimpse of Bearsuit Turtle Makes a Friend they’ll suspect it’s a timeless illustrated book. The ‘bear’s’ mouth is black and glossy, begging for fingers and hands of any age to run across it. You are an adult, with a “real job”, decades past the enjoyment of such illustrated books, yet you just felt the book’s cover. Now you’re doing it again. The oversized, orange bear suit is stiff and is hosting an animal who is pretending to be a bear. Meanwhile, a friendly looking turtle, who is the same height as the green creature inside the bear suit, is looking at the bear with a dubious look on his face.
All hail the silly illustrated book. We reviewed a great silly book the other week, but it’s never too soon to read the silly again. Much like the well-respected Ministry of Silly Walks, a silly book is mandatory for carpet-time readers and the read-aloud crowd. All at Once Upon a Time is peak silly. To older audiences, it could be viewed as an absurd upending of fairytale tropes that most audiences can quote ad infinitum. Younger audiences who don’t know the tropes will enjoy All at Once Upon a Time because of the energy and laughter it produces from the things they thought would happen.
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