Abrams books for young readers | Page 3 of 3

Jim Curious and the Jungle Journey, deceivingly awesome and immersive

For a couple of reasons, I love wordless books. The art allows readers to use their imagination to propel the story further and gives the artist a chance to use nuanced expressions that might otherwise be filled in by words. Jim Curious and the Jungle Journey is a wordless book with a twist. It’s a little bit Indiana Jones, Fury Road, and steampunk, but is in 3-D. That might seem gimmicky, but the effect really works. As a matter of fact, the 3-D effects in Jim Curious are so effective that you’ll be scratching the pages to see if they’re really lenticular photographs.

Lenticular photos are those photographs that appear to have their subject move as you, or the image change perspective. Dan Kainen has a fabulous series of books about wildlife using this technique. When I was a kid there were also some trading cards that used an earlier form of that technology.

If you look at Jim Curious and the Jungle Journey without the 3-D glasses it will look like a disjointed mess and most likely give you a headache. I’m not even sure why posting images in the post are of any value. THEY DO NOT LOOK LIKE THIS WHEN YOU USE THE GLASSES. What you should do is go to the back cover and use one of the two pairs of supplied 3-D glasses, then open the book.

On the first couple of panels, you’ll see Jim as he’s waking up from bed. He lives near the coast with an idyllic lighthouse that’s just outside of his quaint home. A dragonfly has landed on his head and he’s wearing what looks like a spaceman suit. The suit is padded, quite thick and if it weren’t in the shape of an ‘X’ on his chest he’d resemble the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man.

It’s when Jim leaves his house, through a mirror on the wall; that the 3-D magic takes off. He wades a couple of steps into a body of water and heads towards a massive mountain. The huge trees have scales that mirror a 50-story snake. As he walks towards the mountain things get darker, actual snakes appear, baboons the size of cars come down from the trees, Aztec-looking temples are explored, and more. There’s a buoy he has to walk past that’s on a dried-up lake bed. Jim is trying to get to a bright light that’s just beyond a small shack. He knows that he has to enter that shack, but what will he find when he goes in?

Jim Curious and the Jungle Journey is a wordless book, and by definition depends entirely on its images. If you’re new to wordless books that do not mean that they’re devoid of emotion, action, development, or story. The climax in Jungle Journey is a great example of that is the fact that it happens six pages before the end of the book. The ending is also very trippy and would be at home if Pink Floyd were played as you were reading it. In addition to a trippy ending, it’s also fabulous, makes you question things, and begs you to re-read the book again just to see if you missed something.

I was incorrect in my original ‘gimmick’ label with Jim Curious and the Jungle Journey. In hindsight, I would refer to the 3-D aspect as more of a feature that requires those 3-D glasses in order to enjoy it. This is a book that requires a moment to fully appreciate it, but when you do it’s akin to a light going off and that “A-HA” moment when you understand something wasn’t immediately evident.

Jim Curious and the Jungle Journey is by Matthias Picard and on Abrams Books for Young Readers, an imprint of Abrams Books.

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The People’s Painter, chaotic, beautiful images to match Ben Shahn’s life

Illustrated books have the capacity to teach us so much. Those non-fiction illustrated books, when done well, can introduce real-life figures or events to young audiences in a way that makes them want to learn more. The People’s Painter, How Ben Shahn Fought For Justice With Art by Cynthia Levinson with pictures by Evan Turk is like that. I was familiar with Turk’s work from his great book You Are Home. The style in The People’s Painter is different because it’s in the style of Ben Shahn. For us, and possibly many young readers, Shahn is an artist whose work they won’t know. He had an amazing life, as a young child railing against Czar Nicholas II’s soldiers, escaping to America in 1906 and creating illustrations that documented workers and the poor.

The People’s Painter is a beautiful illustrated book about Ben Shahn, an immigrant painter who documented social change in the 20th century.

Non-fiction with jarring paintings to teach elementary and up

First Names, Ferdinand Magellan, the happy nexus of graphic novel and book

First Names, Science Comics and Nathan Hale’s Hazardous Tales are the publishing equivalent of a slightly older brother by another mother. Science Comics, and their sibling, History Comics are graphic novels that are published by:01 First Second. Both of those series do an excellent job at presenting non-fiction topics or events in a graphic novel format. Nathan Hale’s Hazardous Tales are graphic novels that take a more humorous, but still non-fiction look at people or events. The First Names book series have hundreds of illustrations that would be at home in a graphic novel, but frame them around text that helps complete the story. First Names Ferdinand Magellan is a detailed look at his life, discovery, and the events surrounding all of them that shaped how we navigate the planet.

Book Edu-fu-tainment, for lack of a better term

Strange Nature, amazing close-up images kids want to see

It takes a special kind of person to oversee a fourth-grade report. In most cases those students are presented with a wide variety of options to choose from and more often than not, they’ll go for the more obscure animals. When I oversee kids doing a report like this I always encourage them to do the research in a book. The way that elementary kids use computers to research things is limited to what they see on the screen. They won’t let their natural curiosity turn the page before they’ve written down an information point that their teacher has asked for. Strange Nature, The Insect Portraits of Levon Biss is the kind of slow boiling, detail-filled book on bizarre insects that most kids will never see, but will know something about.

Bugs you can love. Photography you’ll crave.

Newton and Curie The Science Squirrels, fun STEM for K-4

As a teacher, I know that math and science are fun. Yet, when I mention this to most elementary-aged students, the vocal minority will groan, and the silent majority just might go along with this trope. When this happens I immediately pivot to a real-life instance that could illustrate whatever math or science lesson I’m teaching that day. Newton and Curie The Science Squirrels is an illustrated book that addresses simple machines that elementary students will learn about in third or fourth grade. The book introduces them to these machines via a soft, pleasant story that those younger ages will be able to understand, with the assistance of two smart squirrels.

STEM-tastic illustrated reading for early elementary

This Is The Glade Where Jack Lives, an offbeat, charming tale

I just had to look up the difference between a glade and a moor, essentially one is reserved for shooting while the other is merely an open space in a forest. This Is The Glade Where Jack Lives immediately reminded me of the book that it reminded you of. This Is The House That Jack Built is that backward told tale that was as great as the person reading it to you. If the reader is full of emotion and passion, then the story leaped off of the page. This Is The Glade Where Jack Lives, Or How a Unicorn Saved the Day takes that template, amps up the silly factor, and adds some fabulous illustrations to make a great good-night that will leave kids four-eight laughing regardless of when they read it.

This is the book, kids rightly mistook for a great good-night read

Ghosts Unveiled!, pitch-perfect, non-fiction scares for ages 9 and up

One of our favorite books from 2019 was Creepy and True Mummies Exposed! Certainly, a major part of my initial curiosity in that book was the fact that I’ve loved mummies, the science of them, cultures that perfected them, and the ghoulish specter that exists inside my imagination of seeing them. The layout and presentation that book was perfect because it blended science, travel, adventure, and imagination into one package that was great for middle school readers and up. Author Kerrie Logan Hollihan dives into the series again with Creepy and True Ghosts Unveiled! It has the same presentation that I loved in the first book but looks at a topic that is difficult to actually prove.

Spooks, ghosts and the content/presentation to engage middle school

First Names: Harry Houdini -nonfiction that young readers can believe in

Books that capture the attention of elementary or middle school readers need to be entertaining. It’s a bonus if said books can fun and leave those young readers with a smile on their face or a sense of wonder. Rare is the book that can be entertaining and fun, all the while doing it in a non-fiction book that upper elementary aged readers will enjoy. First Names is a line of books from Abrams Books for Young Readers and if this first book is any indication of their things to come it’ll be a go-to series for this age group. First Names: Harry Houdini by Kjartan Poskitt with illustrations by Geraint Ford is a book that has you smiling from couple pages into the book and weaves a breathlessly true tale that you don’t know.

This book reads like an adventure-comedy and kids 8 and (way up…) will love it