Books | Page 43 of 82

The Stuff Between the Stars, dazzling non-fiction STEM in story and art

Grey matter and dark matter walk into a bar. The bartender looks at them and asks, “what’s the matter?”. Dark says, “I’m not attracted to anybody”. It’s worth noting that I know absolutely nothing about dark matter and didn’t even know that it was an actual thing before I read The Stuff Between the Stars. The Stuff Between the Stars: How Vera Rubin Discovered Most of the Universe, is an excellent example of an intelligent, illustrated book that treats its young audience with respect and isn’t afraid to broach big-scale ideas. It does this and accomplishes what an illustrated book should do, which is to entertain young readers. As a healthy aside, those rare illustrated books will tell them something new and make them curious about the bigger picture.

The Stuff Between the Stars is the story of Vera Rubin and works on any measurement for a great illustrated book.

Vera Rubin saw dark matter and gave it a name

The Leak, mixed results for journo girls who are in 6th grade

The Leak is a graphic novel that centers around a tween girl and four issues that are central to her life. There are boys (actually one in particular), her family, her hobby-which is writing and creating her newsletter, and midnight black sludge that she finds near the lake that she goes fishing at. It’s written by Kate Reed Petty with illustrations by Andrea Bell. The graphic novel is interesting because it has a laser tight appeal to a certain age range due to several characteristics.

The Leak is a graphic novel with good intentions, but has a conflict between its content and appearance.

For lower middle school readers

Banksy Graffitied Walls and Wasn’t Sorry, fun, elementary outsider art

Banksy is the enigmatic artist whose minimalist work is immediately recognizable to some adults. It’s witty, smart, funny when it wants to be, and sends a message if that’s the intent of the piece. Banksy has inspired LEGO books on his art and always remains in the shadows, an unknown artist who uses previously naked buildings as his canvas. Banksy Graffitied Walls and Wasn’t Sorry is an illustrated book that’s on-level for elementary school readers, but will they know or care about this artist whose work can be esoteric, nuanced, or illegal?

Banksy Graffitied Walls and Wasn’t Sorry, an illustrated book look at this outsider artist, their work and exhibits for ages six and up.

This book works whether you know who Banksy’s art or not

The Wisdom of Picard, bite-sized smarts from Star Trek’s main man

Our 11-year-old son giddily tossed the 2021 Hallmark Christmas Ornament catalog my direction. “Dad, there are lots of Star Trek ornaments in it-I know that you love Star Trek”, he said. Internally I was thinking, it’s not that I like Star Trek more, it’s just that we have more Star Trek Christmas Ornaments than any other franchise*, but I didn’t correct him. That got me thinking about Star Trek: The Wisdom of Picard, a book of quotations from everyone’s wisest and most follicly challenged captain.

The Wisdom of Picard presents bite-sized smart nuggets of conversation or quotes from Star Trek’s main man.

Smart it is, Make it so you will say

The Last Fallen Star delivers on its implied quality

It goes without saying that books should be entertaining. But, I just said it, so sometimes we need to be reminded of the fact that some books are better than others. The Last Fallen Star is an entertaining, complete book that also opens it up to a larger world. The book is in the Rick Riordan Presents imprint from Disney Books and rewards readers more thoroughly than some of its contemporaries.

It can also be said that there is no bad pizza. There is simply pizza that is better than other pizza. The Last Fallen Star is literary pizza that is better than others. The book is part of the Gifted Clans Novel series by Graci Kim. It’s important not to cringe when you see that the first book in a series is already part of a planned series, much less one that has Rick Riordan Presents, before the title. I am all for letting a series or franchise prove its worth, let the one book be successful, and then deliver more. However, I can also see from the creator’s perspective that a greater story roadmap needs to be laid out so that they, as well as the reader, can let their imagination wander about what could happen to the characters.

Rick Riordan Presents The Last Fallen Star builds a beautiful world with strength, great heels and a story that delivers.

Like the paper we used to get daily, this book delivers.

A Shot In The Arm!, the antibody of the graphic novel blaaahs

Discovery is a great thing and I love it when I find an author that was previously unknown to me. Just to be clear, in this instance I mean an author that’s written and published books and not an author that I discovered down at my local coffee shop. Don Brown is in the third book in his Big Ideas That Changed The World series on Amulet Books. I had seen the first and second books from the series in our elementary school library, and meant to read them, but got distracted by shiny objects or cat videos. A Shot In The Arm! is a non-fiction graphic novel that’s as great as any of the ones that we’ve raved about from :01 First Second books or Nathan Hale’s Hazardous Tales.

Big Ideas That Changed The World, A Shot In The Arm is an entertaining and fun history of vaccinations that curious kids will want to read.

The non-fiction graphic novel doledrums have met their match

How Old Am I?, a worldwide look on aging and commonalities

I remember when I was in my early 20’s I had preconceived ideas of how people looked when they were a certain age. When our children were younger we’d ask them how old they thought we were and how old they thought their grandparents are. How Old Am I?, Faces From Around The World is a fascinating book that asks basic questions and illustrates how people look from around the world.

How Old Am I? is a fascinating work from The Inside Out Project that shows people around the world at various ages, with bits about their life and desires.

Aging and how kids realistically see it, from a global perspective

DJ Funkyfoot Butler For Hire!, madcap chapter book for ages 8 and up

Oh DJ Funkyfoot, get out of my dreams and get into my car. DJ Funkyfoot Butler For Hire! Is a book that our nine-year-old really needed at this time. This is a book that’s a member of The Flytrap Files, which is in itself, a character and series of books created by Tom Angleberger. Inspector Flytrap was the series that started it all, which spun off Didi Dodo Future Spy and now DJ Funkyfoot. I take the first sentence that started all of this back and now invite all three of them to get into my car. Butler For Hire! is madcap silliness that some kids will flock to read and others, like the reluctant reader kind, will love to read.

From The Flytrap Files comes DJ Funkyfoot: Butler For Hire!, a zany chapter book for ages 8 and up that will tame even those reluctant readers.

wacky fun that kids want to read and you’ll enjoy too