What is art? It’s a challenging term to define but you know it when you see it. Round is an illustrated book that confused me at first. The irony of a very simple illustrated book making me scratch my head was not lost by my inner critic. From the get-go, Round is beautiful and has gorgeous illustrations of various things found in nature that are well, round. However, much like art doesn’t have just one definition, round can also have several shades of its shape.
Let’s start this out by saying Dr. Fauci, How A Boy From Brooklyn Became America’s Doctor has nuggets that both the left and right will use for their talking points. In actuality, this is an illustrated book that plays it straight down the middle and it’s a shame that some people see absolutely everything through a political prism. Due to COVID, Fauci is of course a household name. Our nine-year-old, who has never seen a nightly newscast, knew who Dr. Fauci is during the height of the pandemic. This is a book that inspires curiosity and wants young readers to ask questions, which is something that everybody should agree on, right?
Our 11-year-old son giddily tossed the 2021 Hallmark Christmas Ornament catalog my direction. “Dad, there are lots of Star Trek ornaments in it-I know that you love Star Trek”, he said. Internally I was thinking, it’s not that I like Star Trek more, it’s just that we have more Star Trek Christmas Ornaments than any other franchise*, but I didn’t correct him. That got me thinking about Star Trek: The Wisdom of Picard, a book of quotations from everyone’s wisest and most follicly challenged captain.
If the world were a fair and just place there would be 10 copies of Nerdycorn in the book rack at our local big box store. As mentioned earlier, we were there and saw copies of a book that has a similar theme, but wasn’t nearly as great at Nerdycorn. This is an illustrated book that revels in color, has text length that makes it a great good-night book, funny characters, lessons to learn, and intelligence. It also has unicorns, which for some will be the main reason for reading. If that’s the case then that’s cool, come for the unicorns and stay for the STEM.
There’s a surge of illustrated books coming out now about COVID and how it impacted people or the places that we live. Brian Floca is an author and illustrator who works in both aspects with equal ease. In Keeping The City Going he’s the author/illustrator and has captured what New York City looked like during the peak COVID pandemic time. While the book takes a look at that city specifically, the labels or departments could easily be thought of as “Any City USA” and the heartfelt lessons of thanks and sacrifice are just as valid.
Cougar Crossing is based in southern California. It’s worth noting that Courtney Cox and Jennifer Anniston do not live at that intersection. This is an illustrated book that tells the story of P-22 a mountain lion that lives in the Santa Monica Mountains near Hollywood. Welcome to the land of city wildlife, near Beverly, Hills that is, swimming pools, movies stars and some rogue animals that don’t belong anywhere near them. This is a clear-cut case of the fact that the cougar, P-22 and his ancestors, were on the land first, but those desert hills kept attracting more residents. What’s a natural predator to do?
I’m in a third-grade class right now. A mere ten minutes ago I was teaching the kids writing while some of the brighter kids started talking about the books they’re reading. Rick Riordan was the main author that those kids were talking about. Some of these nine-year-old students aren’t as advanced when it comes to reading. I heard some of the kids call their books ‘baby books’, so I had to jump in and clear things up.
This is not a ‘baby book’, nor is it actually the book that those kids were reading. It also may not be the first time that readers in your house have seen a Super Turbo book.
What we have here is Super Turbo Saves the Day!, an all-age graphic novel from Little Simon. This is truly for all ages. Those kids who are only five years old can pick up Super Turbo and make some sight words or at least really enjoy the pictures. Getting your pre-k or kindergarten-aged student to eagerly look forward to carrying around a book, even if they can’t read all of the words yet is half of the battle.
Fun graphic novels for ages five and up is what ye see here mateyOn its surface, Wilderlore, The Accidental Apprentice seems like a book that you’ve read before. For me, it’s because I recently read Fartquest, a book whose tone is quite different but does share an overarching theme in common with it. Those older readers might even find threads of How to Train your Dragon, Nevermoor, or LOTR in the book. As you might have guessed, The Accidental Apprentice involves a quest that has monsters, beasts, and kingdoms. The mglit angle is firmly hit by the book because it’s one that middle school readers will enjoy due to the fact that it’s fun, has a very quick pace, and a pair of teen characters who will ride their imagination.
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