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The Snurtch, a fun book for kids about their id, ego and behavior

What is a Snurtch? A Snurtch is that (id) inside all of us that does the opposite of what we should. My adult Snurtch makes snide or sarcastic comments when they’re not needed. Thankfully the adult version of my Snurtch is rarely seen. For children though their Snurtch is seen on a daily basis and that is the premise behind The Snurtch. The book follows Ruthie, a typical first grade student who likes school, but has a problem with her Snurtch when she’s there.

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Laser Moose and Rabbit Boy, all age graphic novel greatness and more

Each one of us, to some degree knows a Laser Moose and Rabbit Boy. Laser Moose is a moose who lives in the forest. He’s strong, intelligent, does the right thing and can shoot lasers from his eyes. Rabbit Boy is his best friend. He’s eternally optimistic, sometimes a little too trusting but can pull it together to make things turn out OK. Even before you open it Laser Moose and Rabbit Boy from Doug Savage makes you smile.

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The Late Jurassic, detailed, educational-all age, dinosaur book

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Both of our children loved dinosaurs. This is great for us because we like dinosaurs too. We’ve saved all of the dinosaur toys and models that they have (Dinovember!!!) and are still thankful that one of our kids is in this zone. The problem for parents and therefore young children has always been a lack of all age accessible dinosaur books. They’re too cartoonish or detailed for the short attention span that young children have. Early Earth Journal, The Late Jurassic by Juan Carlos Alonso and Gregory S. Paul fills this void of dinosaur books perfectly.

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How This Book Was Made, brilliant, unusual and really funny

How This Book Was Made is the latest book by Mac Barnett. The book’s illustrations are from Adam Rex and together they’ve made one of the most difficult to categorize, utterly strange and wildly enjoyable books we’ve read in a while. From the title you’ll think the book is an inside joke at how an author perceives a book’s creation process-and to an extent you’re correct.

But then you’ll dig into How This Book Was Made and see Barnett arm wrestling a tiger. We’ll meet his editor who eats fancy lunches in her skyscraper while wearing a tiara. Barnett’s multiple drafts will also be sent across the country, leaving dotted line like Billy from The Family Circus. The tiger returns with a fox, octopus, seagull, chef, panda and more to confront the author and look over the draft.

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Dino-Mike, action/sci-fi reading for young readers

Mike Evans is your typical 9 year old kid. He looks up to his dad, who is a world renowned paleontologist who travels the world. Thankfully for our title character Mike has the habit of finding adventure, usually in the form of reanimated dinosaurs. Sometimes it’s a shadowy character pulling the strings, time traveling or meeting new friends who might factor into the story somehow. Dino-Mike is a continuing mini-series of books that will appeal to kids in upper elementary through middle school who like action, science fiction, dinosaurs or travel.

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Dog Man by Dav Pilkey takes the baton from Captain Underpants

If you have a young reader then you know Captain Underpants. He’s the erstwhile principal who fights evil while wearing his underwear and is often assisted by George Beard and Harold Hutchins, two fourth grade students. It’s also the publishing juggernaut that’s seen millions of books in dozens of languages, a feature film in the summer of 2017 and Dog Man is the character that started it all more than 40 years ago.

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The Pinkaboos, middle school fright-friendly books scare up courage

The Pinkaboos are a group of friends who are Frights that are being picked on at school. The bully, Vex, is an older student who picks on Bitteryly, Belladonna and Abyssma for no reason other than the fact that they’re younger than her. It’s the job of a Fright to help their assigned human conquer the fears that they encounter during a nightmare. Vex refers to them as Pinkaboos because they attend Fright School, and pink is the farthest thing from scary, isn’t it?

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Big Nate: Revenge of the Cream Puffs, classic comic gets better

Growing up, the comic strips in our daily newspaper were our go-to source for laughter. Big Nate has been in that mix since 1991. Comic strips, especially ones that are legitimately funny are a rare breed and to have one that’s celebrating its 25 anniversary is a true unicorn. What makes Big Nate special is that the character is immediately seen as a peer to kids as young at elementary school, yet makes adults laugh with as much, if not more. Big Nate Revenge of the Cream Puffs is the 23^rd book that collects strips from this classic and continuing to improve comics.

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