You need to read this book. I love it when our 12 year-old says something like that. When he does, he usually follows it up with some sort of qualifier like, it’s really good, the chapters are funny or some other attribute before going off to find his phone. He read Birdie’s Billions in just under a week before saying that to me. My inner-dad voice was telling me to be wary of his recommendation.
MGLIT that makes kids think, even if they don’t admit itCategory: Books
These are books that kids will want to read-or should read, but will enjoy doing so. Board book, picture books, kid lit, elementary school books, middle school books, high school books, all age comic books and more will be talked about here.
Scary Stories for Young Foxes: The City is must-read mglit
Scary Stories for Young Foxes was one of our favorite books from 2020. It crackled with tension and age-appropriate scares in a way that classic books do. Using a storyteller as a means of breaking the dire circumstances that mglit characters encounter can be an awesome and effective way to make things real, but also very relatable. It’s also notable that the book did not immediately feel like it led to another one in a series. That’s what’s so surprising about Scary Stories for Young Foxes: The City.
One of the years’ best, in any yearSea Lions In The Parking Lot, empty space through the eyes of animals
That sounds like some code or warning that big box stores have, doesn’t it? In reality, Sea Lions In The Parking Lot is an illustrated book that looks at some of the ways that wildlife was affected during the height of the COVID pandemic. It’s a large book that sets up each scene with a half of a page to a page of text that vividly describes what it’s normally like for the animals. The next two pages are big, realistic illustrations of these otherwise wild animals in situations that are urban and strange.
Exactly how did the height of the COVID pandemic affect otherwise wild animals?Cat Ninja: Time Heist, a graphic novel purrfect for elementary ages
How elementary schools receive their books is a fascinating world. I’m in a different elementary school library almost every school day and the fact that I don’t see some series is quite surprising. One of them that is top of mind is the Investigators series. That series of graphic novels is one that every kid aged eight and up would love. In other cat-egories, Cat Ninja is a graphic novel series that elementary schools (and their readers) would laugh at, share, talk about, and would be constantly checked out by an eager queue of boys and girls alike. The second book in the series, Cat Ninja: Time Heist rips through the psyche of a typical nine-year-old-like catnip that’s been teasing placed on the back of a tiny revolving toy mouse.
This book, and this series is peferct for ages 8 and upThe Stories Behind The Stories, more than just history for book wonks
Back in the day, there was something on MTV or VH1 known as “a can’t miss show on cable”. Behind The Music took a look at the history of musical groups or artists and managed to do it with such an addictive flair that the Surgeon General should’ve issued warnings before the program. The Stories Behind The Stories is a book that looks at the things that inspired authors who’ve written some of the classic children’s books that people know today.
It’s the worm that feeds young book worms or curious kidsBaby’s Classics Frankenstein, board book fabulous set to a classic story
Taking a literary classic and distilling it down into a board book that has just over 150 words is no small feat. It’s an even taller order to make it from intellectual property that’s known to any child over six years old. As if that wasn’t challenging enough, let’s make the art so beautiful and engaging that a 12-year-old stops and says, “great art”. Baby Classics, Frankenstein grabs your attention from its cover and continues its handle on you throughout the book.
A horror classic goes board book and it works stupendouslyKyle’s Little Sister, a graphic novel friendly manga for middle school
Kyle’s Little Sister is a manga-esque graphic novel that really knows the soul of a sixth-grade girl. The more mature fifth-grade students will see themselves in the characters also. It mirrors their emotions, interactions, peer groups, and sibling rivalries so accurately that it’ll take you back to the halls of yesteryear or to yesterday, whichever is closer.
A manga that graphic novel folks could dig, or vice versaA Tale As Tall As Jacob, family, life and entertaining
Here, read this all-age graphic novel about ADHD. Here, read this all-age graphic novel about a funny, real, and sometimes contentious relationship about a pair of siblings. As a written description it’s possible that neither one of those sentences might attract the elementary-aged reader to A Tale As Tall As Jacob. However, the benefit of an effective all-age graphic novel is that the images in the can bring in readers who otherwise might not have been interested in it. On the cover, we see a giant youth who is wreaking havoc in the house as his family runs for cover. Is this a Paul Bunyon tale, the story of a child with an active imagination, or something entirely different?
An engaging all age graphic novel on family you say?