Books | Page 10 of 82

Fann Club: Batman Squad, big laughs in text and art for this all-age winner

Fann Club: Batman Squad is not a story that exists in the multiverse. There also isn’t a typo in the book’s cover. Once you see the cover it’s obvious that it’s a graphic novel intent on making elementary school-age readers and up laugh, which it succeeds at very quickly. Our sometimes surly 13-year-old picked up Fann Club: Batman Squad, plopped himself on the sofa, and proceeded to read it. This is worth noting because he’s an avid reader, but mainly sticks to mglit. “This is from the Catwad guy, isn’t it?”, he asked. Yeah, some readers might know Jim Benton from that, but they also might recognize his work from the Dear Dumb Diary book series, Franny K. Stein books, Victor Shmud or his cartooning work. For me, the most entertaining was Attack of the Stuff, which was criminally ignored and still is by most elementary school libraries that I visit. Fann Club: Batman Squad is a Jim Benton book because it’s his style, set against the background of a young boy who knows everything about Batman.

Fann Club: Batman Squad is an original graphic novel that aims at elementary school ages, but covers ages eight and up.

Proof that great IP can cross demographics and still entertain.

NASCAR 75 Years bristles with life and the speed of the sport

NASCAR 75 is a coffee table book that does exactly what well-crafted books in that category should do. Imagine a topic that you have no interest in, yet you pick up that thick, curiously oversized book when you’re at a friend’s house and become immersed in the topic that’s front and center. It’s a book that’s bathed in full-color photographs, hundreds of text blurbs explaining their relevance, and chapters that hold your hand as it explains why untold numbers of people find this topic fascinating. NASCAR 75 Years is the hardcover, coffee table book that does all of that.

NASCAR 75 Years is a coffee table book in the true sense of the word. It satisfies fans in its deep-dive stories and documentation, but also serves as an introduction for the masses.

NAscar 75 years does is soup to nut racing for fans and the masses

The Kingdom Over the Sea, mglit that’s not as bad as it could’ve been

Stop me if you’ve heard this before. A young girl’s parents have mysteriously disappeared and are presumed deceased. This youth mourns their absence and is trying to figure out the meaning behind the object or writings that she’s worshipped since they’ve been gone. Suddenly a porthole, new person in town, or traumatic event happens that leads our protagonist to a far-flung world where she discovers new things, realizes that she has powers beyond her imagination and just might be able to see her family again. This is a trope that’s running rampant through children’s literature now. Actually, one could say that it’s been a common theme for a long time. However, what was a theme, is now a de facto, almost mandatory synopsis in books that are in my review queue. So, how does The Kingdom Over the Sea fit in relative to this landscape?

The Kingdom Over the Sea is mglit that hits upon many current popular tropes, and manages not to be as disinterring as others who took the same path.

Kids 8-12 will dig it

Party Hearty Kitty-Corn, the Borg embodiment for non-Unicorn kidlit

I don’t like unicorns. Certainly, I’m not too fond of kittens. Pugs are the lowest form of canines. Resistance is futile. If you’re a pre-k through second-grade student, and you think any one of those first three sentences is a resolute truth, then resistance is futile to Party Hearty Kitty-Corn. This is the sort of vivid, in-your-face, read-to-me book that runs with enthusiasm and speaks loudly to those who hear it.

Party Hearty Kitty-Corn is illustrated book giddiness that runs with energy and soft lessons for pre-k and early elementary.

Irresistible

The World’s Most Mysterious Places is a kid’s look at things they want to know

The Adventurous Kid’s Guide to The World’s Most Mysterious Places is the literary equivalent to Youtube food. Those who hang around upper elementary through lower middle school students can relate to that metaphor. It’s those ages that are apt to start a sentence with “Did you know that…?” to which you’ll be regulated to something that’s questionable true, demonstrably false, fake news or a little-known fact that makes those ages stop, repeat it to their friends and then find more like that. The difference is that The Adventurous Kid’s Guide to The World’s Most Mysterious Places is 100% non-fiction. It’s an impossibly addictive, oversized illustrated book that examines 19 places that exist, or have existed and lets fourth through sixth-grade student know why they should be interested in them.

The Adventurous Kid’s Guide to The World’s Most Mysterious Places, an illustrated book that kids won’t be able to look away from, for ages eight through 12.

Non-fiction that hooks ages 7 through 12

Princess of the Wild Sea, a pleasant teen coming of age, that’s come before

I wanted to really enjoy Princess of the Wild Sea. It’s from Megan Frazer Blakemore and I was a big fan of her previous release, The Story Web. That book had its hooks firmly in the realm of fiction, with just enough power behind the character’s relationships that you wanted it to be real, or at least possible. Princess of the Wild Sea has planted its seeds firmly in the garden of fantasy, with a side dose of magic, heroes, and expectations. It’s mglit that will speak to those who want a patient, lyrical story of a once-magical place that’s now populated by hope.

Princess of the Wild Sea is a pleasant, coming-of-age story that you’ll enjoy if this is your first book of that sort, if not, it’ll feel slow and obvious.

You mglit princess readers will like it, but it’s a bit predictable

How Was That Built, beautiful, architect, STEM food for ages eight and up

A friend of ours is a nuclear scientist. Illustrated books are for children and present simple content or fairy tales for young readers. One of those statements is false.

Intelligent illustrated books are an excellent way to teach. They can present advanced content on a level that’s not intimidating to younger audiences, and maybe, just maybe, inspire someone to change the world.* How Was That Built?: The Stories Behind Awesome Structures is an illustrated book that wears its intelligence on its sleeve and is the sort of book that’ll answer questions, inspire curiosity, and plant architectural seeds that’ll bloom in two or three decades.

How Was That Built? is a brilliant illustrated book on the construction, science and engineering behind bridges and buildings around the world.

You want your children to be more intelligent than you…,don’t you?

The Brilliant Calculator, STEM illustrated magic on leveling up the power grid

The Clarke Calculator is something that I’ve never seen, touched or used, yet its application is demonstrated everywhere I go. It’s not a regular calculator. Heck, it’s not even a scientific calculator. The Brilliant Calculator: How Mathematician Edith Clarke Helped Electrify America follows Edith Clarke’s lifelong passion for numbers and her specific invention that helped electric power wires handle to juice needed for a growing America.

The Brilliant Calculator is an unlikely and empowering STEM illustrated story about Edith Clarke, a woman who invented something that few of us will use, but all of us take advantage of.

Stories like these are what make kids think outside of the box