Daddy Mojo

In Their Own Words, Lebron James and Taylor Swift is for the fans….mostly

Fan is short for fanatic. Taylor Swift’s fans are very passionate. Donald Trump’s fans are very passionate also. Lebron James has been playing basketball for decades and has legions of fans. Fan is something that’s used passively and meant as more of a way to build a tribe of like-minded people. People who support certain politicians, as well as, musical artists or celebrities can be fanatical. Fanatical is the adjective form of the word and is applied in more of a negative way for those who take their support of things to illogical extremes. Lebron James In His Own Words Young Reader Edition and Taylor Swift In Her Own Words Young Reader Edition are two different books from the In Their Own Words book series aimed at young readers. Both of these books are for young fans of each personality whose traits range from fan to fanatic.

Swift and James back again…,in seperate books for fans of either

Mousetronaut Saves the World is cute and smart for early elementary school

We didn’t read the first or second illustrated book in the Mousetronaut series. Having read Moustronaut Saves the World, it’s not necessary. One of the main Mousetronauts, Meteor has been to space before. That fact is referenced more than a couple of times in the book. He’s been to space before and has just the knowledge set to save Earth from the asteroid on a collision course with the planet. Thankfully, the flight director of the James Webb Space Telescope has a big plan that is dependent on little astronauts.

Mousetronaut Saves the World is an illustrated book with space action, mouse hijinks and wondrous adventure for early elementary ages.

Set phasers to fun for early elementary

The Strangest Fish is an odd-joy of an illustrated book

What a simple tale The Strangest Fish is. It will sound familiar to young, read-aloud audiences in elementary school, both in its setting and in its very subtle lesson. A young girl is at the fair with her family when she receives a fish who is happily unaware of the size of its plastic bag aquarium. It’s a beautiful fish that they name October, who quickly outgrows his arrangements. This all sounds familiar, the fish-out-of-water, except those who aren’t like you premise that savvy readers can detect from far away. That’s us too, but before you put this in the same tank with other, less intelligent, classy or interesting books, check out the art.

The Strangest Fish is an illustrated book that charms the status quo on a fish-out-of-water tale that excels due the grand art and timeless story.

One fish, weird fish, catch my interest you

The First Cat in Space and the Soup of Doom slays sophomore curse

The First Cat in Space and the Soup of Doom takes the absurd happenings of The First Cat in Space Ate Pizza, keeps running and picks up speed. The Batman 1966 vibes in this all-age graphic novel series continue in this second book and are more established. By looking at the back cover it baits audiences by telling them that they’ll see First Cat, Moon Queen, and Loz 4000 again, but teases them by showing snippets of the action inside the book, a la, The Wild, Wild West as they went to commercials. This is a graphic novel that wallows in the excitement and giddy energy that mid-elementary through lower middle-school students can bring to a book when it’s one whets their appetite.

The First Cat in Space and the Soup of Doom is the second in this intelligent and absurd graphic novel series that lays waste to the sophomore slump.

Insert more cat

The Inventor’s Workshop, STEM-fun for potato chip and cat video kids

The potato chip and cat video test is gauging whether or not a kid will want to read a book based on just one page. Because, much like a potato chip or a cat video, you can’t eat or watch just one. Some might relate better to the M&M or slice of pizza test, but the latter is far too large for repeated snacking, isn’t it? The Inventor’s Workshop: How People and Machines Transformed Each Other is a wonderful book that crosses through reference material, a loose time travelling narrative, countless blurbs of digestible information and detailed illustrations that channel a search for a lanky, bespectacled, poofy-haired, Brit who is hiding in plain sight.

The Inventor’s Workshop is a fun, easy-to-read illustrated book about inventors, their inventions, and how they’ve morphed over time.

Resistence is futile

Sunday, meets the needs and desires of its young audiences

Hi, Daddy Mojo here and in the immortal words of Billy Mays, but wait, there’s more, there is more to Sunday. The wordplay in the text is very clever and parlays the meanings behind some of the imagery. When Martin and Maize return, the eight pages where the three of them sit on the sofa could have been a snoozefest that made readers of all ages check out the book. Instead, it sucks readers in further simply by focusing in on the details. It’s just a black hole, but I keep getting closer and closer until I can only see the closing void of space.

Sunday is an illustrated book that’s immediately timeless, combing spot-on art with brief text about the power of imagination.

Sunday, sunday, more than the sum of its beautiful parts

Haruki Murakami Manga Stories 2: a surreal graphic novel mirror

Haruki Murakami is Japan’s best-selling, living author. His books have been translated into over 50 languages, with millions of copies sold worldwide. Haruki Murakami Manga Stories 2: The Second Bakery Attack, Samsa in Love, Thailand are a curious itch. The three short stories in graphic novel form are jarring, visceral, in your face and take a moment to be absorbed. This is a graphic novel in the vein of art, with a surreal story that weaves between metaphors, allegory and absurdity without any warning.

Haruki Murakami Manga Stories 2 are the manga form of three classic short stories from the legendary Japanese author.

art is relative, this is manga art

Skybound!, a non-fiction, entrepreneurial illustrated book is easy to love

Why do we read? There’s a poster in a class that I’m teaching now that lists Great Reasons to Read. Yeah, that list might seem passé or obligatory, but for a group of high school students who would sooner watch paint dry, so long as it’s on their cell phone, they need to be reminded as to what reading can do for their ever-growing brains. Skybound! Starring Mary Myers as Carlotta, Daredevil Aeronaut and Scientist check off every one of the things listed on that list, if such a list exists for elementary school ages. Spoiler alert: that list exists and it’s the same one that’s in the high school class; it’s just that young audiences like elementary school readers need to have it presented with a little more panache, enthusiasm, and show.

Skybound! is the sort of illustrated book that is easy to love. The story is loaded with action, unbelievable exploits, descriptive text and non-fiction thrills.

Solid Gold was much more than a comeback