Books | Page 58 of 82

Cat Ninja has the prrrower to be your child’s favorite graphic novel

Someplace between Captain Underpants, Dog Man, Phineas & Ferb and Teen Titans GO! is Cat Ninja. It has the must-read & elementary school watercooler vibe of the first, the heart of the second, and the madcap humor and action of the third. Granted, it could be said that any of those initial titles have a degree of all of those characteristics. We’re merely putting them in the rank that our children have unofficially ranked them. It’s all of those characteristics and more. Cat Ninja is more, because it manages to be familiar, all the while being something that’s entirely original, relevant, and has fabulous colors, but more on that in a moment.

Cat Ninja sits alongside Dog Man, Investigators and Captain Underpants

Fox & Rabbit: Make Believe is elementary confidence and fun

Brothers and sisters don’t just exist in living beings. There are some books that have their perfect pair. It’s those books that are similar, but not identical, and have the right things in common that fans of either book want to see. If your elementary school reader is not hip to Mr. Wolf’s Class they are missing out. It’s an original graphic novel series on Graphix that is entertaining, builds the reader’s confidence, is on a level that they can easily understand, and doesn’t talk down to them. Fox & Rabbit: Make Believe is the second book in this series by Beth Ferry with illustrations by Gergely Dudas and will strike the same chord of interest in those first through third-grade readers.

If your elementary-aged reader is looking for a great read try this

Jonas Hanway’s Umbrella, makes non-fiction fun for early elementary

Without Jonas Hanway, The Umbrella Academy might not exist and Britons would’ve possibly continued letting the rain soak them since 1750. Jonas Hanway’s Scurrilous, Scandalous, Shockingly Sensational Umbrella is the sort of stranger than life, non-fiction illustrated book that young readers will love if they give it a chance. The last part of that phrase is key because the book ticks off all of the blocks needed for it to be ridiculously engaging and entertaining for ages six through ten.

A story of public shaming and the dry man who was right

This Thing Called Life, an intelligent illustrated book on any level

A children’s illustrated book can be a simple thing. They can also attempt to convey complex matters. It’s really rare to have an illustrated book tackle life. It was done a couple of years ago with One Day A Dot, a book that distills the universe in a STEM-happy way for young children to understand. This Thing Called Life by Christian Borstlap addresses the same grand scale of life, but does it in a simpler way, via timeless graphics, simple-yet realistic text, a sense of humor, and a side vibe of Monty Python’s Flying Circus.

This Thing Called Life is as great and classic as an illustrated book can get. It’s also to the point, intelligent and with great art.

Stop. Find this book and get it if you have kids who are aged 2 through 8

Generation Brave, comfort food for the middle school activist’s soul

Generation Brave wants to be loved. In this case, it’s also a book that wants to be loved. If it’s a loose happy, compilation of young people who are out to change the world then Generation Brave, The Gen Z Kids Who Are Changing the World may not be your scene. To the book’s credit, it doesn’t hide its activism. It clearly states upfront, just in case any middle school or older reader is unfamiliar with the people being highlighted, that these people are opinionated and not afraid to stand up to authority. Cue that song by John Mellencamp in 3, 2, 1. If you’re an activist young person on the left side of the aisle then this book is preaching to you. It’s loaded with mainly liberal young voices or organizations who are very passionate about what they believe. Because of that, the book will be a guidebook for those who speak truth to power and a book full of tripe talking points to the other half.

Generation Brave, meet the new boss, the same as the old boss

Big Foot and Little Foot: The Bog Beast, early chapter book fun

A nice, simple book that’s perfect for emerging readers is a tough thing to find. The chapters could be too short, or too long. The characters could be too juvenile, or just a bit too old for elementary readers. In short, it’s a very narrow line that books need to traverse if they’re targeting grades two through four. Our eight-year-old is right in this struggle. He can read sentences and is building vocabulary, but hasn’t made the jump to chapter books yet. Big Foot and Little Foot is a book series that’s tailor-made for this dapper young man.

An early elementary chapter book that checks all the blocks

Who is the Bucks Bandit? stumbles in this otherwise engaging series

As a family, we are knee-deep in the struggles of getting an elementary-aged student to learn to love reading. One series that he does enjoy is the Diary of a 5^th Grade Outlaw series by Gina Loveless with illustrations by Andrea Bell. The third book in the series is Who is the Bucks Bandit? and it feels very different than the first two. Elementary-aged students who are already enjoying the series will gamely follow along. However, those passive readers who were reading the book just to placate their parents will feel like they’ve been here before. The result will leave librarians and parents of those younger kids who are coming into the series hoping that the fourth book in the Diary of a 5^th Grade Outlaw series finds its mojo again.

The third book in this series feels too familiar

Teen Titans GO! To Camp! succeeds as a graphic novel for this all age team

Teen Titans GO! is easily one of the favorite television shows in our house and has been for the past two years. Our boys are eight and ten now and I suspect that this show will still be in their queue for the next three years. Moreover, the show is incredibly smart and displays a very high level of humor, all the while making fun of how dumb it can be in certain moments. For us, the show rivals The Simpsons in its intelligence and laughs per minute. Similar to that show, it had a comic book element that was equally as fabulous. Unlike Homer’s vehicle, Robin and his crew continue to have new adventures, and the first one of these, Teen Titans GO! To Camp! is out and is everything that fans of the show enjoy and want.

IT’s a graphic novel that delivers the promise of the comic and the TV show