Jellaby: the Lost Monster and Jellaby: Monster in the City
by Kean Soo
Jellaby has a very simple visual style, especially the people. In some books this can be problematic, but Soo really makes it work in his favor. The simple style with it's purple/pink color palette draws in the eye. Jellaby in particular is amazing. He is the sweetest, most expressive, big-eyed monster you've ever seen. Plot-wise, the second book is more action heavy than the first, but both books have a lot going on emotionally. These are an entertaining read both for the surface reader and the person who is willing to look a little deeper.
I am super excited about the upcoming release of Jen Swann Downey's The Ninja Librarians: the Accidental Keyhand.
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| This book! |
I'll be posting my review of the book next week. In the meantime, I've been tasked with helping to promote the book. Once a week until the release of the book I'll be posting my answers to prompts provided by the publisher, Sourcebooks.
This week's prompt is: Which characters would you like to meet from a book?
I have kind of a lengthy list.
Aslan from the Chronicles of Narnia
Mole and Rat from The Wind in the Willows
Professor Lupin from the Harry Potter series
The BFG from the book of the same name
Kathy and Tommy from Never Let Me Go
Jeeves from Wodehouse's series
Father Tim from the Mitford series
Junie B. Jones from the series of the same name (that kid is a riot)
As a bonus, Sourcebooks has also made the book trailer for The Ninja Librarians available this week. You can find it here.
Saturday was the Zippety party and as far as I could tell it was a resounding success. Activities included making a birthday crown
pin the bow tie on Zippety
balloon races
a Zippety story
and, of course, cake.
Title: Kung Pow Chicken #2 Bok Bok Boom
Author: Cyndi Marko
Genre: Humor/Superheroes
Similar books: Captain Underpants by Dav Pilkey
Claude series by Alex T. Smith
Rating:
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| Epic Superhero humor |
Summary: Gordon and his brother Benny fell into a vat of toxic sludge at their Uncle Quack's science lab. Now they fight crime as Kung Pow Chicken and Egg Drop, while trying to keep their super hero lives a secret, especially from their mother. At the opera, they must rescue beloved singer Honey Comb from an evil scientist.
My opinion: This series is a great introduction to superheroes and chapter books for young readers. The stories are clever, funny, and well supported by the illustrations. We've had book #1 in our collection for more than a month now and it never stays on the shelf for long. I thoroughly enjoy giving Kung Pow Chicken to young readers.
More information: Bok Bok Boom releases March 25, 2014.
Advance Reader Copy provided by NetGalley
The book is complete. It took a solid week of hard work, but Zippety's story is finished in time for his party on Saturday and I'm pretty pleased with the end result. The book itself came in a kit of three book blanks, saving us from having to figure out a way to get our story bound. Here are a few images of the book and it's interior.
Sidekicks
by Dan Santat
This book takes an interesting twist on the classic superhero story by making the hero's pets the main characters. Focusing the story on animals gives it appeal for even the youngest graphic novel reader. At the same time it follows the traditional superhero arc for the average fan and has the plot complexity that will appeal to older readers. Add in dynamic illustrations with a cartoony style and rich color palette and this is truly the total graphic novel package. We're already on our second copy with no sign of it's popularity waning.
About a year ago I decided to knit myself a pair of socks. I found a pattern I liked and got to work. It mostly went okay There were some problems with the written directions for the heel but I got it figured out. Anyone who's ever knitted socks, though, knows what happened next. I got bored and set the sock aside. Just for a week or two, I figured.
So, here we are a year later. I found the random sock stuffed in a box with some craft supplies and figured I ought to at least finish the pair. Remember that problem with the heel directions? Yeah, I didn't write down the correction. I have no idea what I did to make it work. So, the sock remains alone. Will I ever make it a mate? Maybe. Probably not with this same pattern though. That ship has sailed. Luckily I have no problems wearing mismatched socks.
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| The sock in question |
