Daddy Mojo, Author at Daddy Mojo

The Door That Had Never Been Opened Before, a timeless new classic

The Door That Had Never Been Opened Before is an illustrated book with a look. It’s tactile appearance makes you reach out and touch the flat pages within the book as if you want to open the door or flick the characters to see if they’re drawn on a spring and move if you push just a little bit. The story is timeless, and a child’s first encounter with an age-appropriate M.C. Escher illustration. Combine the two and there’s a trippy dippy creative real-along illustrated book that will have the younger ones laughing while you’re reading it, and place a wide, silent grin on the older kids that pick the book up for some alone time when you’re not around.

The Door That Had Never Been Opened Before is an illustrated book that due to its look, has an old soul, and due to its totality is a new classic.

The M.s. Escher vibe is only the start of the fun

The Mighty Bite: Walrus Brawl as the Mall!, absurd so good

That song from Mellencamp is so overplayed in the summer. Is it that terrestrial radio plays certain songs more during that time of year, or are you simply listening to the radio more? In other news, have you ever not had something because the other thing you consumed from that entity was so good? We eat at a pizza place like that. Their pizza is so great, but I’m hesitant to order other things off the menu out of fear that it wouldn’t measure up to the thing I already like from them. Nathan Hale has a pizza place, it’s called Hazardous Tales. They’re a series of non-fiction graphic novels that makes American history entertaining and allows upper-elementary through high school and older the chance to actually enjoy learning through reading. When I first saw The Mighty Bite from Nathan Hale I immediately knew it was from his kitchen, but I didn’t try any of it. The Mighty Bite: Walrus Brawl at the Mall! is the second entry in this series and proves that you need to try new things on the menu. Not only is Walrus Brawl at the Mall! a great graphic novel for fans of Hazardous Tales, it enters the all-age graphic novel smackdown and lays competition to Investigators and Dog Man.

The Mighty Bite: Walrus Brawl at the Mall! is the second in this graphic novel series that adds its name to the must-read club for ages 8 and up.

Extemporaneously speaking

Simone has promise and a great story, but a side agenda of obvious also

Children almost certainly don’t think of books as a gateway to a different world or an opportunity to learn something in a second-hand, entertaining manner. Granted, those two takeaways are a major reason why people enjoy reading books, but to some young elementary ages books are more of a thing that you have to do, and doing things under duress is very rarely cool. Simone is not the first illustrated book that mid to upper-elementary students will look for. Its indistinct cover implies nothing about the book’s plot. All you see is an Asian girl with a sketchbook and paintbrushes, wistfully looking out as waves of colors bend ahead of her.

Simone has beautiful art and a unique, approachable story, but comes with a lesson or agenda that elementary ages know ad nausea.

The art is effective, the story is ok

What Can a Mess Make?, timeless read-aloud that soothes pre-k – 2nd grade

There is a difference between a mess and being messy. Likewise, something dreamy does not mandate that it is sleepy. Unless it’s meant to be read at bedtime, a sleepy illustrated book is not ideal for describing something you want kids to enjoy. Any child can make a mess, yet every child is not messy. What Can a Mess Make? is an illustrated book about a pair of sisters who make the most of their messes via creativity, sharing, forgiveness, patience and life.

What Can a Mess Make? is an illustrated book that brings the feel-goods and constant smiles as comfort food for ages four through eight.

The feel-good times of constant smiles and happy memories await

The Simpsons Treehouse of Horror Ominous Omnibus Vol. 3-ageless, subversive

Subversive is a fabulous adjective isn’t it? In the case of The Simpsons Treehouse of Horror Ominous Omnibus Vol. 3: Fiendish Fables of Devilish Delicacies it’s playful subversion twice removed. The source material is an older television show that produces a silly, surreal, violent, edgy, and relevant Halloween special that produced a different story, in the same vein, for its comic book. The result is an omnibus of some of the most creative, absurd, varied, chaotic, and entertaining graphic novel madness that you’ll experience, that is, if you’re a fan of The Simpsons.

The Simpsons Treehouse of Horror Ominous Omnibus Vol. 3 is a collection of stories from the comic books that have stood the test of time.

The cover glows in the dark, and its content is just as great

A Tour of the Human Body, factoid fun for grades 1-4

For a period in every elementary student’s life, they are factoid machines. They have competition between themselves to seek out and parrot one or two-line facts about animals, the more disgusting, bizarre or unknown, the better. This is the age of the exception. Kids may not be able to tell you how many ounces are in a pound, but they’ll be able to tell you at a moment’s notice that you swallow an average of 1,500 pounds of food a year. A Tour of the Human Body: Amazing Numbers-Fantastic Facts is an illustrated book that introduces elementary-aged students to this bag of flesh, organs and bones that accommodate us during our time on Earth.

A Tour of the Human Body is an illustrated book that introduces this complex bag of bones and muscles to kids aged 5-9.

Factoids, the life blood of early elementary shool kids

Horizon of Khufu is VR the way that you imagine its potential will become

Just under 30 years ago I came to Atlanta for a business trip and the client wanted to impress us by taking us to a “VR experience”. It was VR, but it was the mid-90s version of it that has us tethered via a thick cord that constrained our movement as we navigated a series of lines that were akin to Pong or a very primitive first-person-shooter game. Horizon of Khufu: Journey in Ancient Egypt is not that version of VR. This is a wholly immersive VR experience that puts you into old town Khufu. You do still have to wear the glasses. However, as an entertainment experience for the price point, it’s challenging to put Horizon of Khufu in a league with anything else.

Horizon of Khufu is what you knew VR could be. It’s a story-driven, interactive journey that takes you to Giza and back.

Ignore how you look with the headset on and jump into the water

Westfallen is mglit that perfectly baits the hook and rewards readers

Westfallen is the mglit book that you didn’t know that you needed. In this case the ‘you’ that we’re referencing are upper-elementary, middle school or just those good-time readers who want to engage in a solidly paced, semi-plausible action novel that feels like something that makes you think ‘they don’t make em like that anymore’. Westfallen also flies in the face of recent mglit books that brazenly start their book series by putting a number on its spine. I’m all for optimistic thinking, but stating the goal that more books in the series will follow this one, before establishing their awesomeness is a practice that’s fallen far short lately.

Westfallen is the adventure of two trios of kids, separated by 80 years who are communicating via a radio they found in the waning days of WWII.

Start with the end in mind when creating a series