March 1, 2019 | Page 2 of 2

Crafty Llama is an illustrated children’s book ewe’ll love

Crafty llama, mike kerr, renata liwska, craft, crafty, illustrated book

Sometimes I squeal when books arrive. I let out a small one when Crafty Llama arrived at the office. This is not a book that was on my radar. I knew nothing about it. Yet, when I saw the cover something about this children’s illustrated book seemed so warm and comforting it simply felt like something we already knew. And, to be clear, I don’t mean that in the sense of old and repetitious. This was more of a comfort food feeling, for example, a food that I eat when I need solace, like clam chowder on a cold winter day….in case you’re in the area.

Crafty Llama is by Mike Kerr with illustrations by Renata Liwska. Its subtitle is, A story about crafting, friendship and the very best gifts. The book starts with Llama walking home on a warm summer day. When she gets home she knows that there are legitimate things that need to be done around the house like laundry, vacuuming the fireplace, putting WD-40 on the doors or straightening up the garage. She knows those things need to be done, but she spies a massive ball of yarn, conveniently the same color as her…, so she starts sewing something. When Llama is not sure what to do she sews so that she can clear her mind.

Before long some of her forest friends show up. They each bring their unique set of skills to help her. The turtle, elephant, wolf and more all show up to add elements to whatever she’s sewing. Some animals provide ideas on what she can craft. Everyone helps except for beaver, who’s not sure how he can help so he chews on a tree so that he can clear his mind.

It’s a social afternoon with all of the animal friends sharing, being silly and having fun. By the time night rolls around Llama has knitted a very nice blanket, which she promptly shares with one of her buck-toothed sleeping friends.

Crafty Llama is a slice of illustrated book heaven for crafty kids 4-8. The illustrations are soft, warm and will delight (and calm…) young readers as they drift off to sleep land. This is a great good-night book for those younger kids in this spectrum. It’s short enough to re-read more than one time a night, but also long enough to qualify as the “one book” that you’re reading after a long day.

All age comic books for March 20

Happy new comic book day! What are the all age comic books that you’re reading this week? If you share any of those picture on social media please tag them with #DaddyMojo or #AllAgeComicBooks so we can see what you’re reading and follow along. Over in the podcast (for real!) we’ll chat about Ben 10, Nancy Drew and more. For now, let’s look at three comic books that will rock readers as young at 7.

Big Nate, Payback Time!

Big Nate is timeless. I laugh out loud at most strips from this character who was created by Lincoln Peirce. Nate’s world is timeless and will remind older readers of what it was like to be a kid. It will also remind younger readers of how funny being in 5^th grade can be, even when it seems like the world is colluding against you. Our now 9 year old didn’t ‘get’ Big Nate until this year, now he can understand the situations that he encounters, laughs (loudly) at them and looks forward to the next compilation in the series. Big Nate, Payback Time! is hilarious and at only $7.40 it’s an incredible bargain.

Marvel Action: Avengers

IDW Publishing and Marvel Comics have teamed up for one of the best all age comic books you’ll find. Thankfully, they’ve made a series of different comic books to suit your super hero taste. There’s a Black Panther, Spider-Man and Avengers series for your taste. This week has Marvel Action: Avengers coming out, it’s #3 in this monthly series and ages 7 and up, who like super hero action will love it. Moreover, it’s not watered down action, rather, it’s the sweet spot of all age comic books where it’s appropriate for younger ages-but also interesting for older readers.

Lumberjanes #60

While we’re on the topic of must-see comic books….have you read an issue of Lumberjanes? Lumberjanes, from Boom! Studios is one of the consistently best comic books out there. It’s also great for ages 8 and up. Even those slightly younger will enjoy the art, it’s just that they won’t be able to read the words or relate to the situations. Lumberjanes is about friendship, summer camp, aliens, rock stars and being a kid. It’ll skew slightly more towards girls than boys, but not by much.

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Superhero Action/science-fiction Lumberjanes

All age comic books for March 13

It’s new comic book day and here are the week’s all age comic books. Over in the podcast we’ll chat about Sailor Moon, Thor, The Backstagers, Squirrel Girl and more. There are a couple great comics that will be fine for ages 6 and up. For now, let’s look at three new releases that ages 7 and up will love.

Lucy Speak Out!

The fact that Peanuts and its characters are still producing material warms the heart. Lucy Speak Out! is a collection of classic comic strips from one of the best strips to grace newspapers. Lucy takes up social causes, plays baseball, writes a biography of Beethoven and more. Of course, Snoopy, Charlie Brown and Peppermint Patty also get in on the mix. Our 7 year-old jumped up and down like a rabbit when he saw that we had this book. He’ll be able to read most of the words in this book and grow up with the same love that we did for this property.

Marvel Action: Spider-Man

Spider-Man is the superhero that speaks to kids. Whichever incarnation or version within the Spider-Verse you’re referring to, this is the superhero that kids really like. It’s only fitting that Marvel Action: Spider-Man is as great as fans hoped it would be. This is a joint effort from IDW Publishing and Marvel Comics that features Miles Morales, Peter Parker and Gwen Stacy all in the same comic book. The content is fine for ages 7 and up, although those younger readers will need help reading it. The action is great and appropriate for those ages, without babying the content.

Wonder Twins

For all you Saturday morning cartoon kids The Wonder Twins have been a punch line-and deservedly so. They’re nothing more than the shape-shifting twins who needed each other to do what they do. Now Wonder Twins is a delicious mini-series from DC Comics that captures the fun that we all knew these characters could be. Issue #2 of the six issue run is out this week and has our twin contemporary, going to high school and Gleek makes his first appearance! This comic book will be fine for 8 and up.

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Superhero

Science-fiction/action

How To Properly Dispose of Planet Earth, strikes back

Happy Conklin Jr. has aged. The first book in the series by Paul Noth, How To Sell Your Family to the Aliens was entertaining, quickly paced and a book that upper elementary aged and older could really enjoy. In How To Properly Dispose of Planet Earth Happy is 11 now and this book has gone all Empire Strikes Back on young readers. Granted, readers that young won’t know what that phrase means, but you older readers surely know that phrase exemplifies an entry into a book or movie series that exceeds the one that came before it.

How To Properly Dispose of Planet Earth jumps out of the gate with a subtle nod to The Wizard of Oz, gives readers a quick refresher, or introduction to Happy and his life. We see that he traveled across space through a porthole in his sister’s compact, meet his wrestler-grandmother and learn that he’s in class beside a cute girl who he wants to be lab partners with. The later one being the most difficult thing to conquer by far-and this is a kid who has been to alien worlds, been treated like a king and more.

What makes this second book so much better for readers of any age, is that it’s more personal. The first book was good, but it was good in its weirdness. How To Properly Dispose of Planet Earth is immediately more relatable for anyone who reads it, especially those upper elementary through middle school readers. Instead of focusing on Happy’s family we get to see how Happy is when he’s at school trying to be normal.

However, even at school, where he’s normal, things get weird and before long Happy’s sister appears. Not long after that, so does a black hole, his beard grows again, they draw a mustache on a lizard, get trapped on an alien world and they just might have to dispose of a certain planet called Earth in the garbage.

As chaotic and scattered as that rough overview is, How to Properly Dispose of Planet Earth is incredibly grounded. The struggles and difficulties that a sixth grade student has in real life will be evident to those who read this book. They’ll laugh to themselves throughout it and find themselves wishing that every book that they read is this entertaining.

If you’re a fan of The Rock, back when he was a wrestler; this book is the Rock Bottom for reluctant readers.

It’s the Kryptonite for reluctant readers whose superpower is not enjoying books.

I also enjoyed the book as much as middle school will. Our third grader is just a little too enjoy it. By this summer he will have read it once and be on his way to re-reading it again. There are some illustrations on some pages, but this strength of it is in its words. It’s incredibly fast paced and is great for boys or girls who want something fun to read. Set against a school backdrop with a science-fiction paintbrush this book will make you believe that you really can travel to an alternate world through a tiny mirror. Of course, as long as you have a lizard with you and a member or two of your family is either chasing you-or there at the end to save you.

New all age comic books for March 6

Happy NCBD! What all age comic books are you reading this week? If you’re reading them for leisure or to your children please let us know. Just tag it with #DaddyMojo on twitter because we’d love to see what other folks are reading. It’s a good week for comic books. Over in the podcast we’re chatting about Spidey, Doctor Who, Nightlights, Star Wars and more. For now let’s look at three new releases that will interest readers as young as 6!

Disney Frozen: Reunion Road

Get ready for Frozen fever. Frozen 2 comes out in November and until then it’s a steady ramp up of all things Elsa. Dark Horse does a great job with their mini-series and Disney Frozen: Reunion Road looks to satisfy people who want their Frozen now-and well done. The text in this comic book is such that a 7 year old will be able to read some of it, but they’ll love the story. A second grader should be able to read all of it and still love the story. Disney Frozen: Reunion Road is $3.99.

Great White Shark Adventure

From Margaret McElderry Books, an imprint of Simon & Schuster comes this gem of an original graphic novel. Fabien Cousteau Expeditions, Great White Shark Adventure is in the same vein as Science Comics from :01 First Second Books. They present real science based topics in a graphic novel setting and the results, in both cases are fabulous. In Great White Shark Adventure a small team is tasked with tagging a Great White Shark so that they can study it. Expect lots of marine based fun, shark facts and more fish puns than you can shake a fin at. The content will be OK with any age. However, it’s got lots of reading, so those in third grade and up will be best suited for it.

Marvel Super Hero Adventures

Young super hero fans will enjoy Marvel Super Hero Adventures. This is one of those all age comic books that hammer home to pre-k through 3^rd grade. What-a comic book that pre-k kids will read? Well, with a grain of salt…yes. They want to look at the pictures, it’s up to you to read it to them. But this comic book will have lots of sight words that they’ll be able to make out and age appropriate action throughout.

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Superhero

Action/Science-fiction

Captain Marvel review, it’s above average-and that’s OK

Just how did a movie within the MCU become a political lightning rod? The fact that many people have strong opinions about Captain Marvel before the film’s been released is testament as to how much cinema and social media have evolved since Iron Man in 2008. A Captain Marvel film in 2008 would’ve seemed like the stuff of fancy, now it signals the next era of Marvel film making. This works for-and against it. The end result is that Captain Marvel is a very entertaining film that has very similar elements from the 19 films in the MCU the preceded it.

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It is interesting how political and skewed the news has been about this film though. One person who was in the audience during my showing said that they thought that Captain Marvel was originally written with the man as a lead and that it was gender switched, a la, Ghostbusters, to placate today’s trends. I’ve also read some articles online about how Captain Marvel was nothing more than military propaganda. In reality, Captain Marvel is film about a character, who has been around for decades, and does have Earth memories of being a Air Force pilot.

What’s also true is that the film is quite entertaining. It takes a while to get to the period when it’s completely entertaining, but once Carol Danvers lands on Earth the film kicks into gear and really has fun. It’s about this time that Nick Fury enters the film and it takes on a buddy cop feel from the 90’s.

It’s not as humor heavy as some are expecting. There are some nice one liners, but for the most part its dry quips never hit home as often as Korg from Thor: Ragnorak or the dialogue between the Guardians of the Galaxy. In Captain Marvel the laughs are almost exclusively given to Fury, Talos (played by Ben Mendelsohn) and the vast differences in technology between the 90s and now.

The action sequences are very good, the sound is amazing, the soundtrack is spot on and Brie Larson as Captain Marvel is very good. She’s a dry, confident super power who realizes that she’s the strongest force in the universe and swaggers accordingly.

There are a couple elements of the film that didn’t add up as well as Disney would’ve liked. Mainly the friendship between 90’s era Carol Danvers and her best friend, Maria Rambeau, played by Lashana Lynch doesn’t connect. They were best friends back in the day, but Rambeau (is this a play on Rambo…?) has since retired and lives on farm in the south east-and conveniently has a box of all of Danver’s old stuff.

Samuel L. Jackson as a young looking Fury works great, as does Mendelsohn who oozes charm in character or in voiceovers are particular bright spots. The cat also steals many scenes later on in the film. Captain Marvel is very entertaining and serves as a great jumping off point to Avengers: Endgame. If anything, the addition of Captain Marvel serves as a needed punch to the chest for an Avengers film that might’ve left fans feeling defeated. One of the post credit sequences sets up Endgame and leaves audiences wanting a Dirty Harry style end to Thanos and his finger snap.

Overall, Captain Marvel works and is a quickly paced popcorn film and that’s OK. This is an above average MCU film that you’ll want to see more than a couple of times. It’s loud, fun and fits very nicely within the films that have come before it. Moreover, it also sets the stage nicely for Avengers: Endgame, in which Captain Marvel might just (hopefully) up her game.

The World’s Best Jokes for Kids is timeless fun for 7 and up

The day we received The World’s Best Jokes for Kids in the mail our 9 year-old wasn’t expecting much. Part of that was due to the fact that he, his younger brother and I were about to embark on an afternoon full of errands. For the next two hours, every time we got back in the car from the store he was regaling us with jokes from the book. When we got home he continued to read from the book until mom got home, then he reread his favorite jokes. Then mom was so tickled with laughter over how much he was enjoying it that we got his grandfather on the phone.

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The World’s Best Jokes for Kids, Volume 1 and 2 by Swerling & Lazar are out and it’s the stuff of elementary school legend. If you’ve eaten lunch at an elementary school lately you’ll notice that many of the kids will try to throw you a joke curve ball. It’s a clever pun or simple joke that, if it were said by a dad it would be a dad joke and gotten eggs or rolling eyes directed at me. However, since they’re said by a kid who is under 10, it’s cute and down-right laugh out loudable.

This book has hundreds of those jokes, most of which I had never heard before.

For example: Why can you never trust atoms?

Because they make up everything.

Each joke is accompanied by an illustration that helps drive the joke home. That atom joke has a grinning atom with molecules rotating around it. Granted our 7 year-old would not get that joke. However, his older brother got it and was howling with laughter. We were grinning too.

Many of the jokes have that same borderline highbrow appeal to them. They’re puns that are smarter than what you see on a milk carton and this book will provide hours, upon hours of entertainment. For parents it’s also a great value because each book is only $6.99. The text is such that those in second grade and higher will be able to read them by themselves. This is fun stuff that will entertain kids on a rainy day, lazy summer afternoon or running errands around town.

Mr. Wolf’s Class: Mystery Club, an elementary school go-to graphic novel

Up until a certain age, people want to do things that people older than them do. Some of it is peer pressure, possibly an unstated level of envy or sibling rivalry. The younger one always wants to do what the older one is doing. A kid’s first graphic novel can be tough because there aren’t many of them and there are even fewer good ones. As a parent, or reviewer, one also doesn’t want to describe something as “a kid’s first” because it could imply that it’s juvenile. So, now that we’ve laid that minefield thoroughly……Mr. Wolf’s Class: Mystery Club is a great graphic novel that hammers home how great reading can be to those who are pre-K through third grade.

This is the second book in this series by Aron Nels Steinke about Mr. Wolf’s class, its anthropomorphic students and the fun (plus lessons) that they have. This is in no way a ‘lesson graphic novel’ that’s heavy on morals, what to do or how to behave. So, you rebellious younger kids who are simply looking for a fun book will be OK with this. However, Mystery Club does offer lots of mainly good examples of behavior and actions that you’d like your friends-or your child’s friends to exhibit.

It’s a very cute book that perfectly encapsulates how elementary school kids act, the urban legends that every playground, classroom and personality of blocks of students. As any high school student could relate to, and think of numerous real-life examples of the characters in The Breakfast Club; elementary school readers will immediately plug into Mystery Club.

Aziza, Randy and Margot have questions about life, interpersonal relationships, how to deal with potentially difficult people and more. Of course, they broach these issues in ways that a first grader will understand, because it’s highly probable that those same kids are encountering the same things. They’re making clubs, going to parties, wondering what happens to their teachers when they go home and more.

The friendly, approachable art in Mr. Wolf’s Class is one that this age group will gravitate to also. There’s an animal of every sort in the book with age appropriate mystery to keep ages 6-9 grinning throughout. This is one of those series that elementary schools need to have in their library. The vocabulary in the book is semi-challenging for our first grader. He can read most of the sight words, but there are still many bigger words that he tags up for help with. However, it’s a book that he enjoys looking at-and leisure reading is key to raising a kid with a love of books. The third book in the series, Lucky Stars will be out in September 2019.