Daddy Mojo, Author at Daddy Mojo

The Witchling’s Wish will age well wherever it wants

There are some artists whose work just packs a punch or leaves a mark on you. It can be a telltale sign or a manner in which they communicate that makes the project that they’ve involved with a go-to event. Sarah Massini is an illustrator whose work does that for us, and we’ve only dealt with two of her books. The Girl and the Dinosaur was the first one that introduced us to her style and now The Witchling’s Wish cements her style as one that we need to keep an eye out for. To be clear, Massini has released many books which she has illustrated, and from their covers, they all seem to have that vibe for early elementary school readers.

The Witchling’s Wish is a lush illustrated book that paints a tale about friendships and how to get them started.

How did this release sneak past us……? It’s awesome.

Looking Up is an early chapter book laugh fest, with lots of heart

The laugh-per-page ratio to a Stephan Pastis book is incredibly high. His collections of Pearls Before Swine and the Trubble Town graphic novel series are hilarious, observational, intelligent and some of the best bang for the buck in a book that you can invest in. I say “invest in” because every Pastis book that we’ve received or purchased has never left our house and sticks like glue in our forever library. We had heard about the Timmy Failure book series but hadn’t read any of them. They are less cartoon-illustrated books and more in line with a chapter book for upper elementary through middle school. Looking Up is a book that falls into that category. It also produces multiple laughs per page, gets you thinking, grinning, trying to figure out some jokes, and in the end, tugs at the heartstrings more than you expect.

Looking Up has the absurd humor and fun that Stephan Pastis is known for, but combines more heart and feels than you’re expecting.

Another Pastis piece of perfection, but with more heart than you’re expecting

Barb and the Battle for Bailiwick nails the all-age graphic novel tone

The audience, it’s all about the audience and finding to whom it’s speaking. I’m teaching an AP Language class now and that’s a key trait that we’re discussing about certain texts. In Barb and the Battle for Bailiwick the audience for this graphic novel entry is crystal clear. If you’re eight-years-old and like to read, this is your jam. If you’re eight years old or older and a reluctant reader, because reading isn’t cool and you’re parents are content to let your brain turn to Minecraft mush, then this is your jam. If you’re looking for an action-packed all-age graphic novel that screams with enthusiasm, runs with energy, and has humor for days, then this is your jam.

Barb and the Battle for Bailiwick, the third book in this all-age graphic novel series, is the action and humor antidote for (reluctant) readers to avoid a bad time.

This is the sign your looking for, go no farther

Bitsy Bat, School Star is a two-tiered entertainingly illustrated book

In lower-elementary schools across the nation story time is nigh. The time of a school day when a parent comes into the classroom of pre-k through second-grade classes and reads one or two stories to kids is a precious time indeed. Bitsy Bat, School Star is an illustrated book that serves as comfort food to those older kids on that scale. It also does the trick of letting those on the younger end realize that people are different and that everyone’s a star in their own right.

Bitsy Bat, School Star is an illustrated book that serves as reassuring literary comfort food, but also as a very sublime autism primer.

An illustrated book doubling as an autism overview

Room On Top, a lovely book that’s more than the sum of its animals

Ten Apples Up On Top is a classic children’s book. However, more than that, it’s the first book that our two children really loved having read to them when they were younger. The board book version is slightly shorter, they preferred the illustrated book version because it built up the comedic tension when everyone had ten apples on top of their heads. Room on Top is a ridiculously cute illustrated book that entertains through its illustrations, sweet animal interaction, and manic chaos that exists for a brief moment.

Images and text make you say ….awww….

Are You Gonna Eat That?, minimalist cartooning at its best

Sublime. If you wanted to make lots of money, and if such an index fund actually existed, I would invest in the patent that manufactures Sublime t-shirts. To a lesser extent, it would also include Nirvana and the Rolling Stones, but by the grace of the ska gods, they seem to be the most prevalent. You can walk into any middle or high school across America on any given day and see at least a dozen Sublime t-shirts. For a band whose posthumous career has exceeded their actual record-producing years by about 10:1, their ability to stay in the teen mainstream eye is stunning. I tried teaching sublime as an adjective to describe humor the other day to a class and the lesson took off like a lead balloon. Are You Gonna Eat That? is sublime, minimalist comic art at its best. It’s a compendium from The Essential Collection of They Can Talk Comics by Jimmy Craig and is just on this side of voodoo from capturing the soul of animals.

The hilarity and joy of dry, sublime humor in comic strip form

The Curious League of Detectives and Thieves 2: S.O.S, is story strong mglit

Charming is an underused and dangerous word to describe mglit. Some readers might view it as a less juvenile way to describe something when you’re tempted to use ‘cute’. The kitten is cute. The behavior of someone else’s six-year-old child is cute. The behavior of any 10-year-old does not want to be perceived as cute. That’s the sort of behavior that causes your grandmother to pinch your cheeks, and no self-respecting kid over eight wants that. The Curious League of Detectives and Thieves 2: S.O.S. by Tom Phillips, is a very charming book in the best of all possible ways. It’s mglit that’s the second one in the series and has enough humor, action, and intrigue to hook readers who are in middle school and older.

MGLIT in its sophomore book that hooks in readers who don’t know about ti

Misfit Mansion, an all-age graphic novel with just enough bite

Don’t judge a book by its cover. We all know that and I try, I really try to adhere to that mantra. However, with only so many hours during a week to read, it’s the cover that reels in one book over another. Misfit Mansion by Kay Davault is an all-age graphic novel that simultaneously embraces and keeps some of the clichés that live in neo-spooky books at bay. It’s surprisingly entertaining and will keep ages eight and up hooked with enough twists to keep things interesting. I say ‘surprisingly’ because it’s a graphic novel that snuck its way into our reading queue.

Misfit Mansion does resemble some graphic novels that didn’t measure up, but this one has enough variety to make it fun for girls aged eight and up.

A graphic novel that’ll connect with girls in grade 3 and up