Reviews | Page 2 of 24

Mon Petit Busy Day, a huge board book that deserves more

Board books are awesome. Having said that, not all board books are created equal and determining if it’s the right one for your little soon-to-be reader requires some thought. Is the content too simple, are the pages too busy, are the pages too small or are the interactive features in the board book not sturdy enough? Mon Petit Busy Day is an oversized board book by Annette Tamarkin on Little Simon that has a lot going for it, but might fall between the cracks for other parents too.

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Grandma Gatewood Hikes the Appalachian Trail, well worth the hike

The story of Grandma Gatewood is a minimalist, unassuming story that’s so sweet and inspiring it’s all but impossible to believe that it happened in 1955. However, it really did happen, anyone who reads it will come away with some degree of increased motivation and might just feel like a cream puff compared to the 67 year old grandmother. At the age when some folks intentionally drop anchor and become sedentary, she started walking and didn’t stop until she finished The Appalachian Trail.

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Backstagers and the Ghost Light will delight middle school grades

For me it was when I first saw Big that I realized that comic books were more than comic books. They tell a story and have the ability to evolve and change. In Big it was the ‘choose your story’ angle, however, before then I didn’t have the foresight to imagine comic books in any other medium than the occasional movie. I’ve since come around on that idea and am a huge proponent of great properties getting out there in as many formats as possible. As a comic book, The Backstagers isn’t in our top 10, but it’s certainly a great comic for those middle school students and up that dig theater. The Backstagers and the Ghost Light is the first novel to feature the stage crew at St. Genesius Prep in an original graphic novel.

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Hip & Hop In The House!, 4 fly 4YO and up

The tortoise raps slow. The hare raps quickly. There is no racing involved. They do walk briskly for a moment, but that’s only after the two anthropomorphic animals meet each other and see a poster for a rap battle. Hop lives in Breakbeat Meadow and Hip lives in Slowjamz Swamp, both of which are in Oldskool County. If you’re tongue isn’t fully in cheek yet there are more than two dozen cute puns that seal the deal in this book hits home for elementary school readers; or for those parents of young readers who want to have fun reading it to them.

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Baby Sees Colors! is a bright, kawaii-culture board book for 0-3

Baby Sees Color! is a statement of fact and a board book for those babies that just got off the baby boat. Why are board books important? Babies as young as 6 weeks old can make out shapes and colors. For parents who want their kids to see the brightest, most vivid and certainly the most kawaii book need to check out Baby Sees Colors! This board book is a phenomenon in Japan and has sold 700,000 copies there. Baby Sees Colors! is available in the United States for the first time in all of its bright colored, wavy-lined glory so that new parents can watch their babies go down the rabbit hole.

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Secret Scouts and The Lost Leonardo, it aims high and mostly succeeds

Secret Scouts and the Lost Leonardo aims for the stratosphere. From the front cover we glean that it’s about four kids and a huge secret that involves history that could possibly propel them through space and time. All that’s missing is a Goonies-centric, blue phone box that’s bigger on the inside. The book angles itself as all age Da Vinci Code and for the most part it succeeds. Although for us it was more akin to a National Treasure with an upper middle school cast.

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Skelly’s Halloween is age appropriate skeletal fun

Happy, happy, joy, joy. Halloween is a fun time to be a book, especially if you’re a kidlit, friendly, happy go-lucky book about skeletons or the undead. Skelly’s Halloween is that kind of children’s book for children that are 3-8 years old. It’s manic, skeletal happiness with full color pages that those ages will love and be able to read on their own as they approach the upper end of that demographic.

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Game Changers is an inspiration story for tennis fans and beyond

Game Changers is the children’s illustrated story of tennis superstars Venus and Serena Williams. It’s a fascinating story because, as I learned from reading the book, there is much more to their story than just the time that they are world champions. Obviously, no world class athlete starts out at the top, but the journey that Venus and Serena Williams did to get there was particularly inspiring for a couple of reasons. For example I knew that their dad had a big influence in their career, but after reading Game Changers, The Story of Venus and Serena Williams by Les Cline-Ransome with illustrations by James E. Ransome, I know just how big it was.

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