I usually love these adaptations to graphic novels but this one, I didn’t. I had a hard time following each of the individual stories at times even though the stories were so different. It also felt like the story was rushed, the story felt like it had some gaps and didn’t flow like I thought it should.
Each of these three children were experiencing turmoil, a need to flee from their home. I liked that almost everything about each of their escapes was unique.
From their reason for fleeing, their transportation, who they were traveling with, the difficulties they faced on their journey, and how their journeys began. None of their journeys were easy.
I’ve read the novel that this book was taken from, and I feel that this adaptation has suppressed the emotions, energy, and power that the book possessed. The illustrations are good and they help but they don’t make up for what I feel is missing. 3.5 stars
I’ve read quite a few of these Where You Dare Not Go books. I like the short little stories that go with each stop, as they take you around the globe, hitting on a few of the most particular and interesting places that pertain to each of the books in this series. Each book features actual pictures that accompany each story, a captivating tidbit highlighted in a eye-catching bubble, and in the back of each book, the author expands upon the books theme. This week I read 2 of the books in this series. Eerie Education was filled with 18 stories of ghosts. This must be the reason why each of these individual places are the way they are, right? Ghosts! Ghosts with unfinished business, ghosts who just like to make noise, and ghosts who like to cause some mischief.
In California, there is a high school that is said to be haunted by three, yes, I said 3 ghosts! It’s a very old all-girl school, where three different ghosts roam the premises. To me, that sounds like somewhere I would like to visit. I wouldn’t mind running into the white, glowing spirit of a nun floating around the library. Since she is seen most often in the library, she must be a quiet spirit, but I wonder what her story is. Why does her spirit still remain? If you hear a piano playing in the school, see if you can find the source. Most likely, you will not be able to find one. That is ghost #2. Ghost 2 likes to play the piano, but you will not find it or the piano. There had to be piano in the school at one time, wonder why it’s so connected to it. Ghost #3 might be an issue for me. Careful when swimming in the pool at this school. Years ago, there was an accident where a girl drowned. Sometimes, individuals swimming feel that someone is pulling on their legs. Yep, that would freak me out.
What about the school who built their bell tower on the grounds of an old cemetery? Think that went, ok? What about the college student who was pledging for a fraternity when the members took him to some railroad tracks? Call it unexpected, call it total trust, I call it insane. When the fraternity brothers came back, this college student was dead. Now, his spirit is seen every year in the fraternity house he wanted so badly.
I found that this book is my least favorite so far. I think because all the stories dealt with ghosts and the stories were very tame in nature. Most of the stories had closure, they weren’t creepy in nature, and the spirits were not evil.
I really like the map feature on the back. In the back, there is A World of…… Eerie Education. On this 2-page spread, the author marks each of the places that was featured inside the book on the map. All the places in this book were in North America, from coast to coast. In the back is also a great glossary and index. There’s a page of Read More which gives the reader 4 more books they can read to gather more information about this subject matter. On this page, there is also Learn More Online which features a QR Code to scan (if you like) or a web address that you can go to that links you up to a lot more information. It’s a entertaining book to read about some schools in North America which individuals believe are haunted with ghosts. 4.25 stars.
I’ve read quite a few of these Where You Dare Not Go books. I like the short little stories that go with each stop, as they take you around the globe, hitting on a few of the most particular and interesting places that pertain to each of the books in this series. Each book features actual pictures that accompany each story, a captivating tidbit highlighted in an eye-catching bubble, and in the back of each book, the author expands upon the books theme. This week I read 2 of the books in this series. Horror Healing was filled with 18 stories of creepy, haunted, and/or famous hospitals and asylums.
Many were for individuals who were fighting diseases, some had “doctors” who were “practicing “ on their patients, and some lived their whole lives inside a building because of their health.
There’s the state hospital in Illinois where individuals lived and died. A patient who had worked as a gravedigger for the hospital passed away. As they lowered his coffin into the ground, they heard crying from a nearby tree. In years pass, this would be the gravedigger who was crying for the other patients who have died but now, the gravedigger is the one being laid to rest. As the grievers looked towards the tree, they saw the deceased individual crying. Then, there is the story inside a Massachusetts’ state hospital where a patient came up missing. When her purse was found, they discovered an axe inside it. She had been killed with that ax! She had been killed by another patient, but how did she get that ax inside her purse?
There are many stories of hospitals that were being used to treat individuals for diseases. Thinking about all the chaos and death inside the hospitals – it’s so sad. How to keep the patients who are trying to get well separated from all the death around them had to be stressful and emotional. One hospital used rail cars to transport the dead outside to awaiting hearses. Designing a 500-foot, pitch-black chute, this body chute secretly transported the dead bodies to the outside world.
I found that this book very interesting. From Gettysburg, Singapore, Florida, and onto New Zealand, this book covers the world. Some stories are creepy, ghostly, and/or haunting, so think about the reader before giving this book to a small child. I really like the map feature on the back. In the back, there is A World of…… Horror Healing. On this 2-page spread, the author marks each of the places that was featured inside the book on the map. The places in this book cover North America, Europe, Australia, Asia, Hawaii, New Zealand, Singapore, and Italy.
In the back is also a great glossary and index. There’s a page of Read More which gives the reader 4 more books they can read to gather more information about this subject matter. On this page, there is also Learn More Online which features a QR Code to scan (if you like) or a web address that you can go to that links you up to a lot more information. It’s an entertaining book to read about some hospitals and asylums around the world which are not doing any healing. 5 stars.
I liked this new interpretation by Stephen King of the old classic. Make sure you read the introduction at the beginning of the book as it sets the stage for this children’s picture book, and I felt it helped me appreciate the story more. Illustrated by Maurice Sendak, King took the illustrations and wrote this book based on the whimsical drawings contained inside the book. King used some of the original sentences from this classic fairy tale within the story, but King also added his own touch creating a story that is more elaborate than the original.
Hansel and Gretel lived with their father and their stepmother at the edge of the great dark forest. Their father is a poor broom maker, and the stepmother is a spoiled wicked woman. The family is running out of food so the wife convinces the husband that in order to survive, they must take the children out deep into the forest and leave them. She convinces him that God will care for them and they will be safe in the forest. Now, father was not convinced that leaving his children out in the wild forest but she kept at him, convincing him nonetheless.
Hansel had overheard the plans and started making a plan. Gretal was upset after learning what her parents were planning to do but Hansel convinced her that it would be okay. As they slept, they both had dreams. You can imagine how different their dreams were from one another. The next morning, father and mother walked off with their children into the forest. It was just like the parents had planned, only they didn’t know that Hansel had a plan of his own in the works. The personalities of both the parents were felt and seen as this scenario played out.
The parents returned home alone as the children found refuge with each other inside the dark forest. Imagine the stepmother’s surprise when the children knocked on their door the next day! Ha – surprise! Time passed and food was still scarce. The woman again convinced her husband that the children had to go. They had to leave them deeper into the dark forest this time! Oh, she was wicked!! Just like before, father needed to be convinced, Hansel heard the plan, he thought of a different plan, Gretal was scared, and the dreams came back. They journeyed into the dark forest. When the parents returned home, they were alone and the children had fallen asleep in the dark forest. Hansel had put his plan to work. When the children awoke, they were surprised to find that Hansel’s plan had failed. Stuck in the dark forest, would the children ever make their way home again?
I liked how King wrote the story to match the illustrations. These were definitely Maurice Sendek’s signature illustrations. From the candy cottage in the forest, to the twisted trees swallowing up the pages, and the children’s dreams materializing on the page, Sendek and King worked their magic on this classic. There’s harmony with the text and illustrations, each of them sharing the spotlight. What a great combination. 5 stars
Duck and Duck want to make some money to buy themselves a boat for the water. They set themselves up on the beach trying to sell tacos and they’re ready to make some money. They’ve worked hard and now they’re ready. But wait, who is that in that other food truck? It’s Goose and he’s selling food too! No way!! Duck and Duck are mad but they try harder to make their food/business look better. When its time to sell…..the line outside Goose’s truck is long! Duck and Duck have no one in their line. Goose is going crazy with all the orders, he can’t keep up and his customers are not happy.
Duck and Duck feel defeated and start to walk away but Goose realizes that he needs help. Goose suggests that maybe they can work together! They then come up with a plan to combine their foods and sell taco items. Taco pizza, taco burgers, taco hot dogs, etc. What a plan!! They start whipping out orders and everyone is happy! The ending is cute. Bright colorful illustrations. Fun rhyming text. 5 stars.
A great read along or would make a great book for a classroom. It begins with a small boy going to the shop to get a carrot. The shop owner does not give the boy a carrot, but he brings him a bundle wrapped and tied in brown paper with a tail sticking out of the end. Have your little one guess something that rhymes with carrot….yes, a parrot! The look on the boy’s face is shock, and the poor bird looks sad as the boy says “Oh dear, look what I got! Do I want that? No, I do NOT!” The boy then travels to another shop with the parrot flying behind him. This time the boy asks for a hat. Guess what?
The shop owner comes out with a brown bundle tied with string and sticking out at the end is a black tail with white on the end. Do you think that is the hat the boy wants?
I loved how this book continues on in this fashion. The boy asks each different shop owner for something different as each shop owner giving the boy something besides what the boy wanted yet the item they give him rhymes with what he originally wanted. The rhyming and the repetitive phrasing are fun and will have your child helping you read this book.
As the book concludes, it’s a cute ending and everyone is happy. I also enjoyed the colorful illustrations that did not take away from the story. The facial expressions are wonderful and the animals are cute. This is a must read for little ones. 5++ stars
When a place of fun and entertainment turns into something sinister, what happens to it? From Hawaii to Nebraska, from Massachusetts to Louisiana, this nonfiction book covers the United States. Each 2-page spread features a destination. Where once this destination was a fun way to spend some time, it has now turned into something dark and dreary.
It’s not all about ghost hauntings. There are some places that have been abandoned, rediscovered, or for some, they just shut the doors and never opened them back up. Some of these stories were very interesting and I would like to follow-up on them later. This book gave me the basic facts on specific destinations. I liked how the book provided how each of the destination sites came to be, what happened to cause it to fall from its days of glory and what the condition of the site ended up being. There wasn’t a lot of detail but just enough to provide the information and intrigue the reader or to make the reader aware that such a place exists. The pictures provided were historical and most of them were real photographs. I think the author choice of words in the title is misleading for some as not all the stories as “scary” per say. Sinister, creepy or disturbing would be a more accurate description, I think.
Krug Park in Omaha, Nebraska, the Big Dipper roller coaster brought in the crowds in the 1930’s. For 17 years, this park thrived and was loved by all. Then, unfortunately, things tumbled. An accident occurred on the Big Dipper, which marked the beginning of the end of Krug Park. What’s left of this park? Check out the book.
I really liked this book. It’s a children’s nonfiction book covering about 18 different destinations but it’s a great one in my opinion. This is one book in the series, which I grabbed the rest of the series the library had while I was there. The Index in the back of the book was very good and there is also a list of 4 other Read More books at the back which the author listed. There is a Learn More Online site which includes a QR code which I scanned. This scan led me to more resources which listed more destinations which I could read about. There was a www. Site for those who can’t or don’t want to scan the code and/or you can even scan the cover of the book to see other websites. Check out this book!! 5 stars
A fun, educational book for kids and adults too. I saw this book in the children’s new section at the library, and I thought my grandkids might like to try their hand at guessing since we have a lot of birds in our backyard. We have read this book many times switching up the way that we read it, making this book work, a multiple different ways.
It’s a book that is read horizontally which works very well for this nonfiction book. The first two-page spread of a particular bird gives a couple sentences that describe the bird and the corresponding page shows the feather of that bird and a Hint. Turning the page, the next two pages show a realistic picture of the bird and some interesting facts about the bird. The birds featured are a hummingbird, a house sparrow, a bluebird, a cardinal, a downy woodpecker, an American Crow, s Canada Goose, a northern flicker, a wild turkey, and a great horned owl. At the back of the book, there are more interesting animal facts about each of these birds.
“This bird lives in small groups, often close to people’s homes. It’s small, brown feathers might be in your yard.” “Whose feather is that?” “Hint: This bird likes to build its nest atop the side of a house.” With bold text fonts against colorful backgrounds, the information is presented and a brown feather is presented. Turn the page after you have guessed.
What I enjoyed about this book was the ease of the text, simplicity of the flow, and how fun it was to learn. Stan makes this book educational and fun. The littlest of learners can follow along with the oldest as they learn characteristics of the birds.
I was very impressed with this book and after reading About the Author and looking up information about Stan Tekiela, I can understand why this book is so fantastic. Stan has written more than 190 field guides, nature books, children’s book, etc. about the different species in the United States. Stan has also received many awards for his photography and books. After reading this book many times, I am interested in reading the other books that Sam has written, for both children and adults. 5 stars
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
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
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