Tales of Ancient Worlds, potato chip history for fourth grade and up

Imagine a world where Indiana Jones and the National Treasure movies never existed. Yeah, it would certainly be a world where quality cinema was lacking three or four excellent films between the two series. But, even in that situation, kids would still be fascinated by archeology and ancient worlds. That’s where Tales of Ancient Worlds: Adventures in Archeology hits home. It is a reference book, but education and the fruits that it yields are awesome. This is a book that’s tailor-made for fourth or fifth-graders on many levels.

Tales of Ancient Worlds: Adventures in Archeology is the armchair compendium that every erstwhile fourth-grade Indiana Jones needs to show them the light.

It’s fun! It’s educational It’s entertaining! It teaches!

One Cool Duck, file under: a kid’s first graphic novel

I contend that reluctant readers aren’t really reluctant; it’s just that they haven’t found their jam. Their jam is the book that speaks to them, and the sooner they find their jam, the quicker they will start to devour any of that ilk that stands in their way. Thus begins the domino chain of academic success, personal happiness, world peace and teachers everywhere rejoicing. One Cool Duck: King of Cool is a kid’s first graphic novel that could be that book for some younger elementary school students.

One Cool Duck is a graphic novel series aimed at very young readers. King of Cool is the first entry in it that’ll charm pre-k and up.
Hello 4 year olds in search of your jam

Afterward, Everything Was Different, great art, but lose the gender

Have you ever read a book and thought that you knew what it was about, but then saw what the author’s intentions were and it ran in the opposite direction of what you thought? Afterward, Everything Was Different only sounds like the sequel to the reboot of Sex and the City. In reality, Afterward, Everything Was Different is a wordless book by Rafael Yockteng with illustrations by Jairo Buitrago. I know, how a wordless book needed an author is a mystery, but let’s look at the book and why I initially, and still do to a point, enjoy it.

Afterward, Everything Was Different is a wordless book whose art does the thought-provoking talking, but then the author’s note makes it weird.
Wordless, almost wordless, what’s a few words between friends?

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, James Gunn fixes the problem

Cinephiles will remember the time when a movie from a Steven King story all but doomed it to a less-than-entertaining experience. The cinematic world of Marvel Comics has had its own perilous journey. Comic book movies used to be pejorative, but then they reached a relatively consistent phase where they were dependably entertaining. MCU phases 1, 2 and 3 are great examples of that. Then came phase 4 and someone tinkered with the MCU script. While some movies in phase 4 made money, most of them fell far short of expectations and were marginally entertaining. Guardians of the Galaxy was a phase 2 film that defied what audiences expected from a comic book movie. It was weird, had characters that few people outside of the comic book world knew, and seemed out of place amongst a sea of mildly flawed spandex heroes. It was also refreshing. Now, with all of those headwinds spinning around us, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is upon us. Does it capture the MCU magic of old or continue the tedium that phase 3 established?

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 could’ve had a Disney Marvel problem, but James Gunn fixed it and made a wicked smart, fun movie that reminds you of phase 1.
Don’t call it a comeback…ok, it’s a small comeback

Who Ate What?, a fun, engaging guessing game through history

I like to imagine conversations between myself and some of the elementary school aged children that I teach. Here’s one that’s running through me head right now about Who Ate What? A Historical Guessing Game for Food Lovers.

8YO kid: I don’t like to read

Me: Do you like ninjas and cave people?

Kid: Yes, highly respected elementary school teacher, I do like to look at pictures of them.

Me: You should check out Who Ate What?

Kid: That sounds like a book that would make me read something. Me no like printed paper learning.

Me: Well, it is a book, but it’s an illustrated book that looks at well known civilizations, how they lived and what they ate or drank; thus the title, Who Ate What?

Who Ate What? is a fun guessing game for elementary school audiences that makes them ask questions and think about things.
Have you ever written something that only you will probably read?

Josephine and Her Dishwashing Machine, cleans up on a little known inventor

Any teacher that has had to read umpteen hundred essays on the same inventors knows my pain. It’s the exercise in rolling your eyes when the student says that their essay will be on the same inventor, who invented that thing that seems to be a go-to for elementary school kids. There’s a void of books aimed at that audience who need to know about more people that history might have forgotten. Josephine and Her Dishwashing Machine is an illustrated book that joyously plugs that hole. 

Josephine and Her Dishwashing Machine is an illustrated book that examines the inventor of an appliance most of us use daily, but know nothing about its origin.
Hello history, it’s great to meet you

Her Eyes on the Stars, great story, but it’s been done better before

The story of Maria Mitchell is a fabulous one for many reasons. It’s about a young woman who has always loved studying the night sky and the objects that occupy its space. In the mid-1850s she was living in Nantucket and she’s noticing something amiss in the darkened sky. It’s a blur, a cottonball blur of a thing that’s set against crystal clear objects that are perfectly in focus. Her Eyes on the Stars: Maria Mitchell, Astronomer is the story about her childhood fascination with the sky; and her young adult life when she sees what just might be the first comet discovered by an American.

Her Eyes on the Stars: Maria Mitchell, Astronomer is an illustrated book with an awesome story worth seeking out, but this version could’ve used a softer touch.
Deja vu, except, not as good as the first time

A Delicious Story, happily zips along with charm to spare

This is a thick illustrated book. That’s what you’ll be thinking when you first pick up A Delicious Story. This is a lot of pages it’s probably quite a delicious story indeed. Yes, it is, but open up the book and you’ll see artwork that is the hallmark of Barney Saltzberg. The cartoonish mice are drawn with big, thick lines and have been lovingly painted to illustrate the difference between the baby mouse and the adult mouse. His art and stories always have a muted allure of a slow, patient tale that’s able to pivot to a quick reveal, twist, or surprise that leaves young readers smiling.

A Delicious Story is an illustrated book that seems simple and happily breaks the fourth wall in a story that allows young readers to guess, think and fill in the blanks.
The cuteness, oh, the cuteness for ages 4 and up
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