The Carnival Prince by Daniel J. O’Brien
When I saw The Carnival Prince I said, “Self, try it.” And Self said, “No, it looks odd. That cover is too big…too bold…too bright. Too computer-made-looking.” And I said, “Self, just read, okay? You know not to judge a book by its cover.” And Self said, “Fine.” And did. Then it said, “You know what? That wasn’t half bad.” And it was not half bad. It is a nice solid 3 or 3.5. I did not WOW best book ever. But I did say, […]
Skeletina and the In-Between World by Susie Jaramillo
Skeletina likes living in the In-Between world where she is the queen of her castle and can play with her friends who live there. And her favorite friends are the ones who are still living. You see, the living can enter this other realm in their sleep. And Skeletina has taken it upon herself to help those who come over. She tries and capture the critters who help create nightmares. She talks and listens. She learns and plays. It is a happily ever after. And […]
Calamity Jack by Shannon Hale
While still fun, Calamity Jack, the sequel to Rapunzel’s Revenge is not as strong as the first graphic novel. Shannon Hale, Dean Hale and Nathan Hale this time show the world of Jack of Jack and the Beanstalk fame. We see (in a quick flashback) how the goose came into Jack’s possession; why the magic beans were important (no cow in sight) and that we should watch out for Mother’s who know how to back some crazy bread. Then we jump forward to “now” where […]
Cozy by Jan Brett
Cozy is another form of The Mitten folktale. But instead of a mitten giving shelter to various animals out in the cold, this time it is an ox by the name of Cozy that is the shelter. Cozy has a set of rules for his newfound “furmates” as each animal that comes along is bigger than the last, might not be a friend to the others and it is just funny to have the “House that Jack built” like laundry list of rules. Things come […]
Of Salt and Shore by Annet Schaap
Do you want to read The Little Mermaid story but with a big twist? Okay, maybe that is not enough. How about do you want to read about a young girl who is dealing with the death of her mother, her father’s drinking, keeping the lighthouse light burning and a real do-gooder teacher? I will loss in a boy who lives in the houses tower and likes biting people as they come into his room (after all, he has to keep up that “monster” persona), […]
Prince and Knight by Daniel Haack
When I first saw Prince and Knight by Daniel Haack, my first thought was, “This is a board book. Are kids that age ready for this theme?” And then I thought, “Why not?” However, we need to introduce the idea of same sex couples on a level that a child can understand. And this book does that by creating a story that is straight forward and does not preach its message. It is a simple (but not simplistic) story about a same sex couple. Kids […]
