Tag: Simon & Schuster

A Day In The Life of A Poo, A Gnu and You is a go-to STEM reference

Everything old is new again. That phrase comes to mind when realizing some of the great books that came out during the pandemic that didn’t receive the attention that they deserve. A Day In The Life Of A Poo, A Gnu, and You, a Laugh-Out-Loud Guide to Life on Earth is one of those books. It’s as big as an illustrated book, yet has the depth and weight of a reference book, but has more colors and graphics than some comic books or graphic novels. As if the book is attempting to pile on its brownie points, it’s educational, funny, ridiculously entertaining, and wait for it….one that kids will really want to read.

A Day In The Life of A Pooh is at the intersection of comic book, reference material, large-form graphic novel, and humor mag that’s been given a STEM jacket to wear.
The intersection of comic/graphic novel/reference, funny book

A World of Wisdom, phrases that we know, in ways that we don’t

If upper elementary school polyglot students had a collection of bathroom books, then A World of Wisdom would be in every single one of them. The same could be said if those ages also had a coffee table in their living room for those coffee table books that people pick up when they want to make interesting, idle chatter. A World of Wisdom is an illustrated book that humorously shows the absurdity that some idioms mean to those who don’t speak their native tongue. As a former ESL teacher, I can 100% tell you that “it’s raining cats and dogs” is incredibly silly to Chinese students. They’ll gamely play along as they practice and try to master one of the more common idioms in English. However, every country on the planet has some phrase or idiom that uniquely states a condition with such precision that it leaves text 50 times as long for want.

A World of Wisdom takes the phrases that we know and show us that they exist everywhere in one shape or another.
Phrases that we know in ways that we don’t

The Bones of Ruin is big scope sci-fi with an alt-steampunk edge

The Bones of Ruin is a big book. It’s the thick kind of upper mglit book that starts with that age range, but demos north for some readers. This is a story whose scope of action grows with each chapter and new character introduction and mysterious ability that they have. Aside from having one of the coolest titles I’ve seen in ages, The Bones of Ruin comes across as a book that will make the rounds for high school kids as a smart, alternate history tale that could possibly lead to the apocalypse.

The Bones of Ruin is the first book in a series about an immortal girl, circus freaks and the end of the world in Victorian England.
A meaty book on social outliers, shady characters and the end

Pizazz, the hyperkinetic intersection of graphic novel and chapter book

What attracts an elementary school reader to a book? They might be assigned to read it, as in Because of Winn-Dixie, it’s a book their older sibling had, it’s a subject matter they’re interested in or it has that thing that speaks to ages seven and up. Pizazz has that thing. It has a pre-teen on the cover who’s wearing a cape with a star on it. She’s on a turquoise-colored cover that’s complimented with neon orange dots interspersed among the bubbled white explosion. That collision of colors and energy carries on into the book as Pizazz sets its sights on being one of those books that elementary students reach for.

Pizazz is book enough to please adults who want kids to ‘read’, yet illustrated enough for ages 7 and up to actually do so.
Manic energy in its illustrations, text and story young readers want to discover

CoComelon The Wheels on the Bus, manna from heaven for pre-k

When you have children that are older than kindergarten you miss out on certain cultural touchstones that might be unique to that generation. Every age and generation has their own thing that they respond to like a Pavlovian dog hearing a bell and knowing what that means. For pre-K and kindergarten ages one of the biggest things now is CoComelon. It was Greek to me until I was flailing about whilst substituting to a group of first graders. The lesson plan I was provided with ran short and I looked in my computer bag that doubles as a book bag, to see what I had. “You have CoComelon”, said one of the kids in a tone that bordered on inquisitive, a little surprised, and just a hint of ‘please don’t tell my friends that I still like them’. Yes, I had CoComelon, The Wheels on the Bus, and the first-grade class was promptly saved, or at least granted a five-minute lifeline until specials started.

CoComelon The Wheels on the Bus is a novelty board book, complete with wheels, that will have ages 3-6 in stitches.
Cocomelon the wheels on the bus is just what the pre-k doctor asked for

Say hello to your new favorite graphic novel, Barb The Last Berzerker

Graphic novels are a cat video literary equivalent to things in the classroom. The great ones spread like wildfire to all corners of every reader and leave them gnawing at the pages for more. A great graphic novel can give younger readers the encouragement that they need to read longer-form books of any type. They can also provide mental downtime and allow readers to simply enjoy their book time. Barb The Last Berzerker, Book 1 is a great graphic novel the opens up a whole new world in the best of all non-Beauty and the Beast ways. It has the epic feel that will grab in older readers, the manic silliness mid-elementary students want, and street smart humor that allows the book to go to high school and beyond.

Great for ruluctant readers or those 8 and up who simply want to have fun

Frankie & Bug, well-crafted mglit that will divide readers or libraries

Middle school books sometimes exist in the middle of the Venn Diagram. That’s the spot where a myriad of kids could enjoy the book for any number of reasons. Overlaid on that diagram is the very black and white metric of ‘kids want to read it’ and ‘kids don’t want to read it’. To make things even more complex there’s a duo chromatic lens that asks the very simple question of ‘is the book good?’, with a yes/no slider that could help middle school readers find that book. Of course, this silly way of quantifying children’s literature doesn’t exist. However, when I read a book that’s aimed at middle school readers my imagination creates this matrix and tries to think like a kid. Frankie & Bug is mglit that hammers some of these categories home, while creating a whole new “yes, but…” category that will inspire some readers while frustrating others.

Frankie & Bug is well crafted and paced mglt that works as two halves, but might divide its target audience too.
A great book that aims wide, but has niche appeal

Cranky Chicken, early reader graphic novel that levels up for some

A child’s first graphic novel and those graphic novels that speak to reluctant, young readers are two different things. If the latter category addresses the book as being too young or does them in such a manner that mid-elementary kids would find them babyish then they’ll be exiled to the first grade classroom. Conversely, if the content is too much then those younger readers see too much text, or the words are too big, then they’ll get psyched out. If a graphic novel is aiming for the nebulous category then it has to be funny, but not too silly, have some attitude, but not too much, in addition to having a story kids want to read, with enough pictures and length to make it worth their while, so, no pressure. Cranky Chicken is a graphic novel that’s not a kid’s first graphic novel, but many first grade students will want to read it. It’s also a graphic novel the sublimely hits the Jell-O people who make up reluctant readers.

Cranky Chicken is a young enough for a kid’s first graphic novel, but has the intelligence that will also be attractive to reluctant readers.
Oh Cranky chicken, you had us at Cranky
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