A graphic memoir about how hard it is to find your real friends―and why it’s worth the journey.
Real Friends
by Shannon Hale, LeUyen Pham (Illustrator)
First Second
2017, 224 pages, 5.1 x 0.3 inches, Paperback
$8 Buy on Amazon
Do not judge this book by its cover. If you did, you might guess that Real Friends is a bright, optimistic, underdog story in the girl power, kill ‘em with kindness, best friends forever vein. I like to think this was a subversive move on the part of the book designers to lure book-buying parents who are searching for titles through the rose-colored lenses of age and distance. Or, better, to serve as a true cover for the kid reader who recognizes her best-bright-self in one of the girls on the outside of the book, only to realize later that the story inside, the inside-story of feelings and hopes and fears and the many changing faces of friendship, is one she is so relieved to see here, in full-color validation and print.
Shannon Hale’s graphic memoir of navigating childhood life and relationships is brought to life through LeUyen Pham’s illustrations, which carry the story in and out of young Shannon’s experiences, both real and imagined. It is perhaps unfair to say imagined, as it is clear to any reader, young or old, that experiences (especially these early ones of friends and family) are simply understood as they are. And that understanding (of oneself as a super sleuth, or a loner lost at sea) is as real, maybe even more so, than the person or event as it appeared to be. Hale and LeUyen perfectly portray the complexity of finding one’s identity amidst, and in relation to, friends, family, and our own feelings. Real Friends is a must-read for anyone who was, is, or loves a young girl.
– Marykate Smith Despres
May 22, 2017
Bedtime for Batman will have Batman fans, young and old, delighting in their nightly routines
Bedtime for Batman
by Michael Dahl, Ethen Beavers (Illustrator)
Capstone Young Readers
2016, 32 pages, 8.5 x 0.3 x 10.3 inches, Hardcover
$11 Buy on Amazon
A boy prepares for bedtime as a masked hero patrols a sleepy Gotham. Batman’s Batsignal sweeps across the sky as a young boy’s dad signals him to prepare for bedtime. The boy dramatically climbs the stairs as Bruce Wayne descends into the Batcave. Batman plunges into the city’s sewers in pursuit of the villains as the caped boy enters the bathroom to brush his teeth. While the boy heroically feeds his fish, Batman saves innocent bystanders, and fearlessly swings from an overpass past Gotham’s skyline. The costumed lad valiantly climbs the stairs to his bunkbed. Meanwhile, Batman ascends a fire escape into the moonlit night.
Mimicking the bold style of the animated TV shows, Bedtime For Batman is illustrated in the muted midnight blue of the darkened metropolis, the bold lemon yellow of the Batsignal and utility belt, the Batmobile’s orange flames as it speeds through the city, and cool aquamarine of the bat-filled Batcave, and ends with both characters frozen in stalwart poses. Its simple storyline of small and large-scale heroism, written in uncomplicated language, could be easily understood by the youngest Batman fan. Batman’s rogue gallery makes an appearance, and the villains are captured with no violence, symbolized by the boy cleaning his room and locking his toys away in a large chest. A handy checklist at the end helps make sure one’s child has prepared for bed. Tackling common obstacles to an easy bedtime such as dressing, hygiene, and tidiness, Bedtime For Batman is a humorous, colorful book for budding heroes.
– SD
May 19, 2017
Raymond is a truly funny, bright, sweet read-aloud for both kids and grown-ups
Raymond
by Yann Le Bec, Gwendal Le Bec
Candlewick
2017, 32 pages, 8.4 x 0.4 x 12.1 inches, Hardcover
$12 Buy on Amazon
Raymond is just an ordinary dog, living an ordinary dog’s life. But when he decides that he should eat with the rest of the family at the dinner table one evening, things start to change. Soon, all the dogs in town are getting a taste for life on two feet. In the hustle and bustle of his high powered job, Raymond almost forgets that even the hardest working person or pup needs to be thrown a bone now and then.
French author/illustrator/brother team, Yann and Gwendal Le Bec, bring their signature wit and style to this book, making Raymond a truly funny, bright, sweet read-aloud for both kids and grown-ups. To be honest, I think I enjoy this book even more than my preschooler did. Many of the illustrations work as stand-alone cartoons with details that hit close to home for anyone working hard, especially in print media—the ever-present reporter’s notebook, cell phone, and cup of coffee, the late nights hunched over a laptop surrounded by notes and back issues.
For whoever gets their paws on it, Raymond is a great excuse to take a break, read a good book, and remember to get your belly rubbed.
– Marykate Smith Despres
May 18, 2017
Washi Tape Crafts: 110 Ways to Decorate Just About Anything
Washi Tape Crafts: 110 Ways to Decorate Just About Anything
by Amy Anderson
Workman Publishing Company
2015, 320 pages, 6.7 x 1.0 x 6.3 inches, Paperback
$9 Buy on Amazon
…And she does mean just about anything. Your nails, your garage floor, your keys, your sunglasses, your T-shirt, other pieces of washi tape, it’s all ripe for taping over and onto.
You know how The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat is interesting not just for the case stories, but for the glimpses it gives you of Sacks’ writing process and how his brain works? That’s how I feel about Washi Tape Crafts. I picked it up thinking I was going to find interesting projects to do on rainy days, but there is so. much. more. going on here. Read it as a how-to for easy, interesting DIY projects, or imagine it all happens in a lost weekend and read it as a novel about one woman’s descent into pastel-colored insanity. Comes with ten rolls of washi tape.
– Sara Lorimer
May 17, 2017
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Secret Codes & Number Games: Cryptographic Projects & Number Games for Children Ages 5-16
Secret Codes & Number Games
by Dr. Dev Gualtieri Ph.D.
Tikalon LLC
2014, 90 pages, 8 x 0.2 x 10 inches, Paperback
$20 Buy on Amazon
Numbers have secret lives. At a conference for my fellow educators, the topic of math came up. We were asked what our favorite numbers were, and gave a myriad of reasons for our answers. I liked the contours and sinuous shape of the number eight, and the implication of infinity if you overturn it on its side. Another teacher liked the number 9, written with what to him seemed a figure with a bulbous head that bespoke great intelligence. A third liked the number 4 given that it was versatile and could branch out in different directions. All of us walked away with the understanding that numbers contain multitudes of meanings, given some creativity and the willingness to look at them closely.
Physicist and college professor Dev Gualtieri celebrates another aspect of the hidden meanings of numbers with his self-published Secret Codes & Number Games. His book is an introduction to cryptography for ages five to sixteen, complete with colorful and explicit visuals to make a potentially complex topic accessible. Gualtieri demonstrates varies types of ciphers in which numbers are substituted for letters to reveal secret messages, such as Julius Caesar’s reputed “Caesar cipher” that includes each letter with a corresponding number on a wheel. Other ciphers are more visually driven, featuring music notes on a staff or a whimsical assortment of cartoon pigs. The engaging, lucid illustrations provided for each cipher make them easy to understand.
The book naturally also delves into the mathematical aspects of cryptography, a subject that Gualtieri offers a brief history of in his introduction. From there, readers can consult a colorful chart with the numeric ASCII computer code for each letter of the alphabet to enable simple pencil-and-paper encryption. Also featured are the Polybius Square, which uses a coordinate grid to encode each letter, and several chapters devoted to numerology. A final chapter encouraging creating one’s own ciphers bases on the simple computational principles introduced earlier brings the reader back full circle.
Gualtieri ultimately inspires readers to re-consider their relationship to numbers. We use them daily for mundane tasks such as counting change, making phone calls, or calculating tips on restaurant bills. Yet numbers also conceal and reveal, enabling us to keep secrets hidden and to share them discreetly. Gulateri’s book is more than educational entertainment. It stands as a reminder that numbers are just like people: nuanced, fascinating, and worth getting to know on a deeper level.
– Lee Hollman
May 12, 2017
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Professor Astro Cat takes your children on a journey to the very frontiers of space
Professor Astro Cat’s Frontiers of Space
by Dominic Walliman, Ben Newman (Illustrator)
Flying Eye Books
2013, 64 pages, 11.5 x 0.6 x 11.5 inches, Hardcover
$17 Buy on Amazon
Cats are innately curious creatures, innate scientists and explorers constantly exploring their environments. Perhaps that’s in part what prompted physicist and YouTube personality Dominic Walliman and illustrator Ben Newman to decide on a feline protagonist for their book, Professor Astro Cat’s Frontiers of Space. Newman formerly worked at a bookshop and wasn’t impressed with the children’s non-fiction section, so he asked Walliman to write a children’s book on space for him. “My inspiration was all of the books that I used to read as a kid,” says Walliman. “I used to love getting lost in books about space and nature and dinosaurs, and I wanted to have characters to make the books more Ben came up with Professor Astro Cat and it all fell into place.”
Professor Astro Cat’s Frontiers of Space charms the reader immediately. Newman’s clean, modernist illustrations have a strong retro-futuristic bent that suggest the golden age of science fiction pulp magazines ,while Walliman provides lucid prose to help Professor Astro Cat explain topics such as the birth of stars, the speed of light, the solar system and the history of space exploration. A rapt audience of dapper birds, cats, insects and bears are enraptured by all of the professor’s lectures, acting as stand-ins for the readers who share their curiosity.
The book is a delight of design in its own right. It’s an expansive hardcover volume with vibrant pages and even a bookplate on the inner cover that makes it strongly reminiscent of the classic children’s books which Walliman remembers so fondly. Children will want to make many return voyages with Professor Astro Cat, but so will the generations before them who still fondly look to the stars for inspiration.
– Lee Hollman
May 10, 2017
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Stuck in the Middle: 17 Comics from an Unpleasant Age
Stuck in the Middle: 17 Comics from an Unpleasant Age
by Ariel Schrag (Editor)
Viking Juvenile
2017, 224 pages, 8.5 x 0.7 x 11.0 inches, Paperback
$7 Buy on Amazon
Can we all just agree that middle school and censorship are the worst? Stuck in the Middle wasn’t out when I was in jr. high, but I sure wish it was. This is an anthology that tells different stories from a challenging time. Unfortunately, I didn’t hear about this book until I heard that parents were trying to get it banned from school libraries, and that people were attacking it on Amazon by giving it unjustified 1-star reviews.
Read the book for yourself, and you’ll see it deserves a lot more than 1-star. It’s an excellent collection of comics, and does a wonderful job telling difficult stories, that most people can relate to. Being an anthology, some stories will strike more of a chord than others, but all the stories are worthwhile. My only wish was that there was an update, a Vol. 2 filled with even more tales from the depths of middle school.
I know the type of people who would find this book obscene, because they’re the type who will find anything obscene. But they’re kidding themselves if they think kids aren’t already exposed to far worse than what you’ll find in Stuck in the Middle. When I was in jr. high, South Park was gaining in popularity, Eminem just released the Slim Shady LP, and parents, teachers, and students were trying to cope with the Columbine Massacre. The world’s only gotten crazier, so I can’t imagine what kids today are dealing with.
Parents want to ban this book because it has some adult situations and curse words? Fuck them. The issues presented in the book are the issues kids are dealing with. A thoughtful parent would want to share this with their child, to show them that they’re not alone. Fight censorship. Support artists. Buy this book, and leave a review on Amazon.
– JP LeRoux
May 8, 2017
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