Books | Page 24 of 81

Bullet Train, a book so good that I went to the eye doctor

I picked up Bullet Train by Kotao Isaka intent on experiencing a taut, quickly paced page turner. Instead, I cursed the size of the font, gave the book to my wife, and cursed this book was almost exclusively intended for fighter pilots. However, she could easily read Bullet Train. Apparently, I just needed to see the eye doctor, who probably has eyesight like a falcon who’s out for prey. Actually, I knew that I needed to get the prescription updated, but the summertime malaise had started to take root. My new plastic optics were firmly in place and Bullet Train was firmly on my chest, as a lay down after a muggy summer’s day.

Bullet Train is a thriller that deftly dances between humor and action, with the characters being the thread that aligns them.

Please let the movie be as great as this book was….

Gabe in the After is mglit that welcomes reluctant readers

I love it when a book that I’m not anticipating anything from utterly blows away expectations. Gabe in the After by Shannon Doleski is a book like that. Books like this feel short and make readers wish that there was more to this particular story that would’ve been told. However, at the same time, you be grateful that the book leaves you wanting more, rather than wearing out its welcome. It’s a tricky line to navigate between the two, but Gabe in the After does it with ease and will entrance even the most reluctant of upper elementary through middle school readers.

Gabe in the After is approachable mglit that’s tailor-made for reluctant realistic fiction middle school reads.

Hopeful dystopia, for mglit and up

Tapwe and the Magic Hat, Indigenous fable fiction with a grin

Let’s tell a pop culture-savvy upper elementary school student that they’re going to read a book about the Kree and that it also involves a trickster. This trickster isn’t 100% evil and their acts of kindness are as unpredictable as their tricks. Based on that rough description they’re apt to think that they’re reading a mash-up between Marvel space aliens and Loki. However, Tapwe and the Magic Hat is a much more grounded fable about the Plains Cree indigenous people who made up a majority of the population of North America hundreds of years ago.

Tapwe and the Magic Hat, an elementary chapter book that threads the line between fable, magic, life lessons, tricky creatures and more.

Fear not the cultural tales that will entertain

Spineless, animal and intrigue-based mglit for ages 8-12

Steampunk is another person’s Gilded Age, albeit with possibly more action, intrigue, and impossibly complex wooden machines. Spineless has a certain steampunk vibe about it, but when the rubber hits the road it’s more late 1800s, which is when that popular aforementioned show takes place. However, this is about the mglit book that we recently read. It’s called Spineless and is a case where the cover sucks you in, and the story manages to keep you there. This is a book that patient, middle-grade mystery with periods of adventure.

Spineless is an mglit book that I wanted to enjoy more than I did. It’s aimed at ages 11-14 for those readers who like intrigue with an animal hook and a side of Scooby-esque hijinks.

Puppy Bus, a wonderfully goofy book about going to school amidst change

It starts in late June for us. The department stores start to display their back-to-school supplies, I’ll jokingly call it my favorite time of year, and my kids will roll their eyes in dad joke disdain. There’s also a wave of books that come out to comfort kids as to the new schedules, expectations and routines that many of them will experience for the first time. Puppy Bus is a silly picture book that pokes fun at the changes or new routines that those younger ages will go through by imagining that the human student gets on the dog school bus.

Puppy Bus is a lighthearted, fun picture book that’s aimed at ages four through eight and shows them that change at school is OK.

Let the cute back to school books begin

Protest!, a book that’s not as divisive as you think, but is too broad

Protest! How People Have Come Together to Change the World takes a wide-angle look at protests over the course of history. It’s by Alice & Emily Haworth-Booth and it’s not as divisive as it could be, but is also not a reference book on what to do if things aren’t going your way or you’re being legitimately repressed. In short, if you’ve protested about more than one topic over the past 25 years then this book will be speaking to the choir, if not, it’ll provide an interesting overview on how discourse started.

Protest! is a middle school book on change through the ages that preaches to the choir and paints too broadly.

Protests, protests, reinforce what you already think here

My Parents Won’t Stop Talking! will be on your forever bookshelf

The cover of this book is annoying, and that is the point. My Parents Won’t Stop Talking! Is an illustrated book that channels the impatience, imagination, panicked exaggeration, and manic mood swings that kids can have like few books before it. When you read it you’ll remember when you were a kid and your parents would not stop talking. The family was out for a walk, they’d see somehow they know and talk for what seemed like hours. My Parents Won’t Stop Talking! is from the viewpoint of a possibly impatient child as that exact thing happens.

My Parents Won’t Stop Talking! is the perfect intersection of art and story in a picture book about patience, perception, and creativity.

Embrace the choas and go down the rabbit hole

The Sweetest Scoop, a fun picture book on ice cream, ethics and persistence

The other day I heard on the radio that Touch of Grey was released on this date in 1987. They then went on to chat about Jerry Garcia and I immediately regretted not seeing them on tour with my friend in 1988. However, now I’m all about reading, children’s literature, and introducing kids to great books, which bring us to The Sweetest Scoop, Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream Revolution. This is a picture book that examines the rise of the duo in the world of frozen treats and corporate responsibility. Don’t read too much into that last series of words because the book is entertaining, has a great narrative, and will make readers smile, in addition to giving them something to learn.

The Sweetest Scoop is a picture book on Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream, the flavors, their business, the ethics, and walking the walk.

At the intersection of life, business and ethics is this surprisingly fun picture book