Books | Page 3 of 82

The Flicker, dystopian mglit with too much message and not enough fun

Seasons Change as the classic song from Expose goes. And while some trends in mglit might ebb and flow, the dystopian, end-of-the-world novel with a plucky, female heroine will never die. The Flicker is an entry into that genre that wants to accomplish so much but ends up tripping over its intended inclusiveness. It’s challenging to find a sympathetic or interesting character in the first 85% of the book, and the lengths that it went to in order to check off virtue signal boxes has us recalling that classic Keanu Reeves scene from Always Be My Maybe.

The Flicker wants to be your favorite new dystopian mglit series, but its slow, preachy, whiny delivery will do all that it can to dissuade all but the most diehard readers.

Kids, there are better books out there than this.

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

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

The Worst Wizard: Awkward Magic, a truth mirror for some reluctant readers

Elementary school students don’t know what a trope is. They might quickly lose interest in a story that’s played out or too familiar, but they can’t say that they weren’t interested in it due to the tired use of its trope. The Worst Wizard: Awkward Magic is reluctant reader food that flies in the face of the plot devices that are trying to drag it down. Wizards and those who don’t realize that they are yet can be an overplayed device in children’s literature. However, kids also want to read about wizards and the underdogs who might become them. You can see how the window of opportunity in capturing young readers in these books can be challenging.

Aye, ye be a reluctant reader mate?

Welcome to Camp Snoopy is Peanuts lit for the Apple TV+ and more

We don’t have Apple TV+. It’s nothing personal against the streaming giant; it’s just that we can’t have every platform because that would nullify any savings that we earned from cord-cutting. However, if I were in early elementary school, and had control over the streaming options in our house, Apple TV+ would certainly be in the first two because of Camp Snoopy. Welcome to Camp Snoopy is a graphic novel compilation from Camp Snoopy, the aforementioned show. It’s a collection of short stories, lessons, and vignettes that the campers encounter during their stay at summer camp.

Welcome to Camp Snoopy is the print, graphic novel-esque compilation of some of the story lines from the Apple TV + show.

We’d buy snippets of Snoopy’s backpack lint

Dead Girls Walking is YA horror that fails to kill

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before, good marketing and not judging a book by its cover walk into a bar. Marketing assures the book that the issues impacting its wider enjoyment will be mitigated by the niche appeal and box-checking demographics. After all, an mglit book whose main character is going to a queer, horror-obsessed overnight camp for girls is ripe for crossover appeal. Toss in the fact that the author is a Black queer horror writer who is inspired by the culture’s relation to the supernatural. Alas, this is where I need to stop all but the most devout readers who read books by their sense of obligation, as opposed to their overall enjoyment, and put forth that this is not the horror book that the masses are looking for.

Dead Girls Walking has sick seeds of YA horror, but it’s too dramatic up front and too manic and directionless in the second half.

Keep running, from this book

Little Mouse’s Encyclopedia, intersects entertainment and learning

There’s something about the cover to Little Mouse’s Encyclopedia: A Picture Book About The Wonders of Nature that perfectly translates how easily the book can cross over to different ages and cultures. It’s from the perspective of a little mouse, albeit a very intelligent one, who is exploring the things around her burrow. All the while a narrator is providing some expository comments as to why she’s doing things, in addition to offering smarter-than-expected facts about the flora and fauna that the mouse encounters on daily basis.

Little Mouse’s Encyclopedia is a STEM-based story picture book for elementary ages about the wonders that exist in the dirt around us.

Fun and edcuation exists herein