Books | Page 38 of 81

The Dire Days of Willowweep Manor, a graphic novel that upends its cover

The Dire Days of Willoweep Manor is a delightful surprise. As the adage goes, don’t judge a book by its cover, and this graphic novel gives a very self-aware wink to what people might be thinking when they see this book. The cover has a young girl with a sword, a young man with a small knife, and a swarm of rabbits with glowing green eyes all of whom are in front of a Victorian-era castle. If you’re an older reader and don’t like genre switching ploys your radar will go off. If you’re not a fan of Victorian or romantic era graphic novels-even if they have a twist, you’ll be on edge too. If you have those expectations then rest easy because The Dire Days of Willowweep Manor subvertsboth of them and is a fabulous graphic novel for ages nine and up. It’s a graphic novel that playfully goes between humor and science-fiction with ease and one that will satisfy girl readers, as well as boys.

The Dire Days of Willowweep Manor tweaks the stereotypes of what you think it will be resulting in a relentlessly entertaining read.

A graphic novel that ages 9 and up will go bonkers for

The Longest Storm is a timeless, new classic for the forever library

When The Longest Storm arrived at our house it felt like an old friend had come back home. It’s the first book that we’ve read by author/illustrator Dan Yaccarino, and we’re admittedly late to the party. Parents who have elementary-aged kids know his work from The Backyardigans, Doug Unplugged, I Am A Story, or any of his other creations that channel the feelings and emotions of that age. For us, The Longest Storm reminded us of a classic that we loved as a child, Harry The Dirty Dog. Yaccarino’s art style, the brevity of words, the stark-yet natural choice of colors, and the universal story make this a book that any young reader will enjoy.

The Longest Storm is a timeless, new-classic that melds a scarcity of words, stark colors, fabulous illustrations and a story any kid can understand.

Yeowza, here’s a book that says so much, while having such few words

The List of Unspeakable Fears, mglit realistic fiction with an aurora

Capturing age-appropriate dread is challenging. If the product is too dark it won’t be attractive and if it’s too bright then it loses its street-cred amongst middle school audiences. Sometimes campy creeps aren’t what that age wants. J. Kasper Kramer’s other book that we read, The Story That Cannot Be Told lived like a parallel, fairy-free version of Pan’s Labyrinth. About the only thing, those two held in common was a narrative where the background played second fiddle to an incredibly compelling personal story. The List of Unspeakable Fears hits some of the same targets but sets its focused sights on the Typhoid outbreak. Raise your hand if you want to read about Typhoid Mary and North Brother Island.

I didn’t want to either and that’s the brilliance of the way that Kramer weaves the story.

Part mystery, life, ghost and coming of age story

is was, a tongue twister title with an almost wordless, zen-like interior

I make no mistake that I don’t get poetry. When it’s poetry that I enjoy, it’s packed in a stealthy wrapper that somehow conceals its hazy angles and esoteric nature. is was, in no way presents itself as a book that’s not poetic in nature. However, the book is so sparse on words and heavy on gorgeous illustrations that it has as much in common with a wordless book as it does with poetry. But then you go back to the title for the book, is was, you might be thinking it’s some high-brow book that most elementary students won’t like or understand.

How much was could and is chuck was

The Unofficial Hogwarts Cookbook For Kids, cookery for older kids

“Something delicious”, is my response when the kids ask me what’s for dinner. Most of the time I have a plan, but sometimes I go rogue and toss something together on the fly. It’s also one of the ironic bits of life that neither of our children has shown any interest in Harry Potter. We’re a true muggle family, but that’s OK. The Unofficial Hogwarts Cookbook For Kids has dozens of recipes with a subtle nod to Mr. Potter and his surroundings. However, the white font on the yellow cover clearly states that the book is not associated with J.K. Rowling, her publishers or even Warner Bros. Granted, it also says ‘unofficial’ in the title, but now that that’s clear, let’s get cooking, in a kid-friendly and not too complex way hopefully.

Literary cooks for potter-minded folks

Trubble Town: Squirrel Do Bad, graphic novel be excellent

Making something a long-form of entertainment when its traditional packaging is delivered in short doses is daunting. Peanuts has managed to do that successfully. Trubble Town is not a direct Pearl Before Swine story. It has all of the fingerprints and indelible characteristics of Stephan Pastis’ genius creations and wit. It even has some of the same characters that fans love from the comic strip, even if they’re only in a panel or two in the entire book. Trubble Town: Squirrel Do Bad is its own creation. It’s an original graphic novel that’s made up of just over a dozen chapters that has one of the highest laugh-to-page ratios of anything we’ve read in years.

This will easily be one of the top 10 all age graphic novels in 2021

Beach Toys vs. School Supplies is classroom love for the elementary set

The concept of everyday objects coming to life is timeless. Sometimes the execution of the said project isn’t as great as it could be, or as entertaining as you want it to be. Small Soldiers, the 1998 film that sounded great on paper, but whose end result was very disappointing, is an example of this.* Beach Toys vs. School Supplies is the illustrated book version of somewhere in this camp. The idea of beach toys and school supplies having a conflict is fun to think about. After all, it’s the inanimate premise of Toy Story, isn’t it? But is Beach Toys vs. School Supplies an illustrated book that will capture and hold the attention of early elementary audiences?

2 late summer entities enter, can both leave? “Auntie Entity

One Kid’s Trash is a real book, that’s really fun to read

“That’s life, welcome to fourth grade” is what I said in response to my class whining about the amount of work I was giving them. I consider that a precursor to what these students will experience in two years in middle school. The soft, forgiving way in which tests can be retaken again, and students are given a worst-case scenario of 70 are gone. They’ve been replaced with a still very generous, method of being able to re-take a test once, but the score you get is what you get. One Kid’s Trash is not as direct as my teaching methods, thankfully. This is a book for upper elementary and middle school students about life as the way they see it and live it. For those science-fiction or graphic novel readers, that’s not a bad thing.

Comfort reading for the good-book soul