childrens – One Chapter

I Survived a Japanese Tsunami, 2011(I Survived Graphic Novel #12)

4 stars Children’s Graphic Novel

I liked all the extra information that the author included with this graphic novel, I thought it provided some great insight, and it helped fill in some gaps. This graphic novel was easy to follow, it had great illustrations and it contained an emotional story about a family trying to come to terms with the loss of their husband/father.

Ben and his family have arrived in Shogahoma, Japan to visit family. Ben’s father was from this area, and they are staying with an uncle. It’s hard being here as Ben is constantly reminded of his father.

When an earthquake hits the area, Ben takes covers with his brother. His uncle wants to immediately evacuate and well, since he is from that area, I thought they had better listen to him.

They all pile into the car, but they don’t get very far when water makes driving the car impossible and they all escape, except Ben.

Ben is trapped inside the car. It’s the inner voice of his father that comes calling to Ben and Ben can now escape the car, but he’s faced with more uncertainty as he’s in the middle of a tsunami. Cut off from the rest of his family, Ben must rely on himself more now than ever.

The energy and pacing in this book were good as I felt there weren’t any breaks as Ben was navigating trying to stay alive and trying to find his way back to his family. I was interested in more information about the events, and the author gave some of that in the information, in the notes, in the back of the book. 4 stars

Deepwater Creek by Michael Regina

4 stars Graphic Novel Middle School

This looked like a creepy graphic novel, so I picked it up while I was cleaning this section at the library. It’s the end of summer vacation and the teens want one more fishing trip before school starts. There have been some stories around town about some strange happenings in the water since the last storm, but they’re bound and determined to fish, so they make it happen. One adult, two brothers and a few of their friends hop onto the boat and they set off.

Andrew hesitated when the others wanted to try a new fishing spot. He knew that part of the river had been closed off since the hurricane and he didn’t want to get into trouble. Andrew ends up caving in from all the pressure they put on him and the thought of all the fish they tell him are over there. The new fishing spot ends up being a jackpot as there are fishes everywhere! Are these fish acting strangely?

The kids become so focused on fishing that they don’t notice the fog in the distance. The weather has started to change, and the fishing boat is now in the middle of it. An incident leaves a few of the boys in the water and that’s when the book took some twists.

What just happened? Many unknowns as the crew head home. Their friendship becomes tighter as the questions about what they have survived mount. They can’t shake off what they experienced. The mystery of the fog and what they experienced in the water has changed them forever. Where scientists were stumped at an explanation, can these teens find the answer?

I thought there was a lot of text to read in this graphic novel. The timeline was easy to follow as the boys made their discovery and how they went about solving it. I thought the beginning of the book was easier to follow than the ending of the book. The ending of the book, even with the illustrations, felt jumbled and confusing. Towards the end, the illustrations were very dark and trying to compare the illustrations to see progress, it was very difficult to see any change. Four stars

Santa Shark by Mike Lowrey

5 stars Holiday Children’s Picture Book

Know your fish humor when DIVING into this book as it’s full of little slips of humor about fish. Are you EELING it? Yes, that is exactly what you’ll get.

My little ones like to fish so they were all aboard on this one. I did have to stop and repeat a few of the sentences so they could CATCH on to the humor, but they liked this book.

The excitement in this book comes spilling out of the pages so this is not a book you want to read before bed.

With the in-your-face illustrations, the bright colors and the variety of text fonts, this is one book that jumps out at you page-after-page-after-page.

Monster Makeovers by Jonathan Emmett

5 stars Halloween Children’s Picture Book

We read this book over and over again. It’s Halloween and the monsters line up for their chance to sit in the chair. A chance to be groomed in the only way a monster can be groomed.

This is not a beauty salon no; this is just the opposite. It is Uglymug’s job to make each monster’s scary and ugly – to make them perfect for Halloween. Tease their hair, color their face, need more spiders, or do you need more goo coming out your nose? You’ve come to the right place. He’ll work his magic on you.

A funny, kid-laughable book. The grandkids laughed over all the different things that the monsters had done and of course, they wondered how he was able to get everyone fixed up, who was lined up in the illustration, on Halloween.

This would be a great book for an activity in which children would then create or color their own monster, as they have been exposed to all the different ideas presented inside this book. The illustrations were colorful and bright and the text rhymed so that created a lively atmosphere.

Harry and the Guinea Pig by Gene Zion

5 stars Children’s Picture Book

Who doesn’t love Harry? You know that white dog with black spots who lives with his family. In this story, the guinea pig who lives in the neighborhood comes over to visit and Harry gets jealous. The guinea pig is getting all the attention and treats from his family, and Harry is not liking that.

Harry decides that he will try to be like a guinea pig so he can get in on the action. Ha! Oh Harry, you’re a dog and not a guinea pig!

Harry tries to act and look like the guinea pig, but his family doesn’t notice. The guinea pig is even going to show-and-tell at school. Now, Harry has to share that time too! Harry thinks he has a way to solve this issue but instead he causes a bigger problem.

A problem that Harry (because he is a dog) can solve and come out looking like a hero!

This is a great story that has some great key points in it. The issue of jealousy and sharing are brought up in the story. You can also talk about how they could have included Harry when they were playing with the guinea pig so Harry would not have felt excluded. The idea of playing together or setting time apart to play separately could be addressed as that would have helped Harry feel better and not so jealous. I like the illustrations in these books are they are bold yet not playing with a lot of colors. Great book!

Fright School by Janet Lawler

5 stars Children’s Holiday Picture Book

We liked all the interesting Halloween creatures that were included inside this book.

There were lots of fun cartoon creatures practicing how to be scary at this school as their teacher gave them different tactics. I liked how the book was filled with action and the individuals in the book were not all standing around or sitting but they looked like they were in motion on the pages.

The characters were all having fun with one another, which made the book enjoyable to read.

A rhyming book, this book only had a few sentences per page, so it wasn’t’ heavy with text. A fun, lively holiday story with a ending that I knew was coming but the grandkids did not.

Dasher and the Polar Bear by Matt Tavares

5 stars Children’s Picture Book

This is such a sweet story! I think I almost cried at the end. Dasher the reindeer is so caught up in watching the Northern Lights that he ends up in polar bear territory. Dasher thinks that the Northern Lights look like Christmas lights.

George, the polar bear, wants to know how Dasher got there, and he explains that he was flying around and got sidetracked by the Northern Lights. Flying? What?!? Dasher can fly?! George is intrigued by the notion of flying and soon, Dasher tries to teach George how to fly.

There are many great attempts by George as Dasher tries many ways to get George into the air. Every attempt ended with George’s feet still on the ground.

It’s the end of the day and Dasher must go home. Dasher, like George, was disappointed that George wasn’t able to fly. In the end, Dasher was able with his connections to help George feel what it is like to fly and that my friends is what it’s all about.

The illustrations were fantastic and the pace of the story was intriguing and tranquil as you wondered what was going to become of this pair. A great friendship that is sure to last. 5 stars

Cat Nap by Brian Lies

5 stars Children’s Picture Book

I think this book is great for older elementary readers but for younger readers, I think it needs to be explained to them. My 3-year-old grandson picked it out as it had a cat on the cover and well, it was a bit slow for him. I added a few words here and there as we read, relying on the illustrations to tell the story, so he did enjoy the story by the time we got to the end of the book.

Mouse wants to remain undetected as he slips into the painting on the wall, but Cat sees him and follows. Yes, they both go into the painting.

Going into the painting, they come out on the other side of the wall, into another piece of art. This art is a limestone carving which they end up destroying. This artwork is supposed to be carved but somehow the cat, the mouse, and the rats which are in the carving have knocked the items in the carving down. The chase is on!

Cat continues to chase mouse everywhere! Cat ends up having a conversation with a clay dog, an ornamental mask, and multiple pictures.

Cat is on the prowl. Does he ever catch the mouse? Will he ever get back home?

I enjoyed the concept that the author had with this book. Altering items that the cat and mouse encountered in the book was very entertaining and creative. I appreciate the author’s notes at the end of the book as he shows the reader how he made the art to complete this book. Sure, he could have relied on AI or computer images but as the author notes, “where’s the satisfaction in that?” The author goes on to say that if you like to make things, keep practicing. Use your imagination to create an idea and then take the time developing the skills to create what you want. “You can make pretty much anything you want to, if you teach yourself how.” There’s also information on the actual art pieces that the author used in his book.

Interesting concepts and a book that should be appreciated for what it does.

Fish Don’t Go To School by Deb Pilutte

5 stars Children’s Picture Books

Henry had a fish named Marigold. This fish looked almost exactly like his suit. Henry loved his fish suit; he wore it everywhere. He loved the way his suit sparkled, its secret pocket, the way the suit felt like a hug and protected him when he wore it.

School was starting soon and Henry was worried about his first day of school. He didn’t tell anyone about his concern except his fish, Marigold. When the first day of school arrived, Henry finally told his mom how scared he was. Henry told her too that he wasn’t going to school unless he could wear his fish suit.

Wearing his fish suit, Henry arrived at school. Everyone stares at him. He needed to wear that suit but as the day progresses, Henry starts to realize that he’s braver and stronger than he thought. Little-by-little he begins to shed pieces of his suit so that he can enjoy his day more. By the end of the day, he’s not wearing much of his fish suit. Henry is having a fantastic day.

I loved the transformation that Henry made in this book. He used the suit for stability and comfort. As he gets used to his surroundings, he starts to shed his suit, and he stands up stronger on his own. The illustrations are wonderfully done and show the confidence and excitement that Henry feels as the day progresses. At the end of the day, as Henry looks back over his day, his progress is shown. His comfort level has increased. A great book!

Prince and Pirate by Charlotte Gunnufson

4 stars Children’s Picture Book

I liked the idea behind this book, but the language used was a bit over the top for my young readers. I ended up having to condense the text as they were losing interest as I read it to them. For older elementary students and up, this might be a great read, but for my little ones, they didn’t care about it.

What was this book all about? Prince and Pirate had their own separate fishing bowls and they were happy. Prince had a castle, a carriage, and some lovely green plants amongst his yellow rocks. Pirate on the other hand had his schooner ship, a skull, a telescope, some green plants and a treasure chest beaming with treasure amongst all his black rocks. They were each the rulers in their own kingdoms. One day, that all changed when their human dumped them into a larger tank…..together!

This was a big surprise to be moved but a bigger surprise awaited them. They now were sharing living quarters! They instantly became enemies when they discovered each other. Name calling, superior behaviors, yelling, just about everything you can imagine, these two threw at each other.

Finally, a line was drawn, a physical line down the middle of the tank. There would still be two separate kingdoms in this larger tank, one for each of them. They would each have half of the tank and life would be good. And it was, until……..

One day a new house is lowered into the tank. A new dogfish is introduced into the tank, and his house, well it sits right between these two-bickering fish. Now what? The dogfish is scared. Dogfish is in new surroundings with new fish, so he hides inside his house. How do Prince and Pirate react to their new tenant? It’s a cute ending to this book, something I didn’t expect to happen so quickly.

I enjoyed the pirate slang and listening to prince’s higher-than-though approach as they slung their comments back and forth. There are lots of great words in this book: majestic, horn-swoggled, keen, splendiferous, frisky, jeered, hiney. These are just a few of the powerful words that are used throughout the book that might need some clarification for younger readers.

“Ye best be keeping clear of me treasure!” Pirate bellowed. “Egad! Keep your filthy fins off my carriage!” Prince exclaimed.

It’s a cute book for the right reader. For me 5 stars but for my grandchildren who liked the fun, bright illustrations but failed to understand and follow the text 2 stars. Middle of the road 3.5 stars- rounded to 4.