Entertainment | Page 8 of 89

It Takes Guts makes reading about the body fueling process fun

It Takes Guts, How Your Body Turns Food Into Fuel (And Poop) is seemingly custom-made for the reading level, humor, patience, and temperament for sixth-grade students. It’s also intelligent enough to be appreciated by those older readers, even those who have no idea what chyme it is. That’s another reason that middle school ages will enjoy It Takes Guts, it’s funny and laden with puns or other learning pneumonic devices. The puns in the book are so sublime that some readers won’t even get them, but they’ll know that they’re there to make the book more palatable.

It Takes Guts How Your Body Turns Food Into Fuel reads like a graphic novel at times due to its friendly text, paired with clever art. This book is great entertainment and knowledge for ages 11 and up.

Fun biology middle school Stem you seek?

What’s Up Construction Truck? melds the impossible into a board book

What’s Up Construction Truck? is a board book that flies in the face of expectations. It is a board book. It is an interactive/pop-up book to an extent. It’s the smart, buildable board book that you wish that you had when you were a kid. It truly is a great time to be alive, but it didn’t start out this way. When we first received What’s Up Construction Truck? it scared me because of its implied simplicity. I just want a board book, not a puzzle that will embarrass me in front of my 12-year-old, I thought. So, I gave the book to him and let him put it together.

What’s Up Construction Truck? is from the pop-up genius of Matthew Reinhart, this time creating a 3-D bulldozer from the pages of a board book.

You can do this. It’s simpler than it looks and your kids will love it

Pixels Of You, a very slow burn, hazy manga-esque graphic novel

Pixels Of You, I love that song from The Cure. It’s off of Disintegration, which is easily one of the best LPs, CDs or downloads that you’ll ever run across. D’oh, that song is actually Pictures Of You, my bust. Pixels Of You is a graphic novel that’s aimed at upper middle school futurist fiction readers who really enjoy AI, cybernetically infused humans, and how those robot/people or people/robots fit in with the greater society. It’s also helpful if those readers are girls or those dudes who are into fashion or photography. Readers will further enjoy Pixels Of You if they enjoy conspiracy theories, and statements that could be facts, but could also be confused with stark chapter announcements.

Pixels Of You is a slow burn graphic novel with a manga vibe that’s great to look at, but has underdeveloped characters.

The art is striking, the story, really, really takes its time

Mina, an illustrated book of whimsy and mirth that’s one of the year’s best

Lo, and the boat shall not be missed twice. In my mind, Vincent Price is saying those words to me as I read Mina. Mina is by author and illustrator Matthew Forsythe, the creator of one of our favorite illustrated books of all time, Pokko and the Drum. That book was released in 2019 and was on every one of the Top 10 Children’s Booklists that we saw from that year for good reason. Mina is the follow-up to that book and will receive many of the same accolades. They’re also well deserved. The combination of beautiful art, with the sublime, simple, and silly story will have audiences four and up in stitches.

Mina is an illustrated book for ages four an up that dances between gorgeous art, concise words, great story and big smiles.

Only nine more in our top-10 list for 2022 to go

Inside In, is hypnotic photo-oriented STEM for six and up

Kids are inherently curious and that’s a fact that applies to every child regardless of age. Rare is the book that makes middle school and elementary school students equally curious. Either the book is too simple for older readers, too advanced for younger readers, has content that’s in-between the two demographics or simply just is not interesting. Inside In is a book that immediately grabs the attention of kids aged six through 14 and even north of that. It’s a coffee table book for STEM-minded folks, as well as, those who simply like to take their mind on a trip. The subtitle of the book, X-Rays of Nature’s Hidden World, gives you the immediate reason as to why kids will be engrossed in it.

Inside In sounds like a typo, instead, it’s a photo-centric book on X-Rays and how they can show the art of things hidden in plain sight.

Art by another nam is just an x-Ray

Sing 2 runs the same game plan for ages 5-9

When Sing came out in 2016 it was a pleasant treat. The story about a group of underdog, singing animals seemed earnest, cute, and was genuinely entertaining. Granted a majority of the ‘earnest’ label was provided by Buster Moon, voiced by Matthew McConaughey. That character’s can-do, optimistic demeanor still delivers in this film’s sequel, Sing 2. Actually, most of Sing 2 will still deliver, assuming that the audience is in fourth grade or younger. That’s not meant to be a slam or a pejorative, it’s just the way it is, especially having just seen the film with a fourth and sixth-grader.

Sing 2, if you want to,

Fox, A Circle of Life Story is timeless, illustrated book gold

Think of one of Salt N’ Pepa’s biggest hits, but replace the word ‘sex’ with the much less salacious word ‘death’. Now, let’s talk about death. Then, make the book as much, if not more about life, and you’ve got a great overview of one of the best-illustrated books of the year, Fox: A Circle of Life Story. Also, much like D.J. Spinderella song, its misdirection makes people think it’s mainly about one thing but instead gets them thinking, or talking about something that otherwise might be challenging or off-putting.

Timeless,-and an easy entry into your ‘forever’ library

Creepy and True: Bones Unearthed!, non-fiction that fires up readers

The Goldilocks paradigm is a floating rule that I use in elementary and middle school literature. It’s too young. It’s too old. There are too many pages. It’s too scary. It’s too princessy, etc. If a book skews too much one way or another it’ll alienate those ages or types that might be interested in it, but are scared off by something about the book. Bones Unearthed! gives our Goldilocks paradigm a cheeky grin, hugs it, and then welcomes readers of any porridge type as if saying, “all are welcome here”.

Bones Unearthed! is the #3 in the Creepy and True series, this time digging up things and telling history for ages 9 and up.

Non-fiction that draws in readers aged 9 and up