Review: The Legend of Rock, Paper, Scissors by Drew Daywalt and Adam Rex

9780062438898

$17.99

"I hope you’re wearing your BATTLE PANTS!

You’ve played the game. Now read the legend of the three great warriors who started it all . . .ROCK! PAPER! SCISSORS!"

If Escargot must be read in a French accent, this one requires a good announcer's voice! Each of our mighty ones is the undisputed champion of his domain - but where is the challenge when everyone else is so easily defeated? 

ROCK versus APRICOT! 

"I will beat you, Rock, with my tart and tangy sweetness!"

...

ROCK IS VICTORIOUS

"Ugh, I am smooshed!"

"And yet, smooshing you has brought me no joy."

Enough tongue in cheek humor to keep even the most exhausted parent ready to "read this one again!" Enough plain old silliness to make this a crowd pleaser for all ages. And only Adam Rex could get this much expression and emotion out of a - well, a rock, paper, and scissors. A must-have for every library!

*NOTE: This title has been nominated for the Cybils Award, and I am a first round panelist. There are many nominations and six other judges. My opinions should not be construed as a sign of inclusion or exclusion on the final short list.

Review: The Legend of Rock, Paper, Scissors, by Drew Daywalt and Adam Rex

9780062438898

You’ve played the game. Now read the legend of how it all began . . .

Long ago, in an ancient and distant realm called the Kingdom of Backyard, there lived a warrior named ROCK.

Meanwhile in the Empire of Mom’s Home Office, a second great warrior sought the glory of battle. And his name was PAPER.

At the same time, in the Kitchen Realm, in the tiny village of Junk Drawer, lived a third warrior. They called her SCISSORS.

These three were the strongest, smartest, and fastest in all the land. Time and again they beat the most fearsome opponents they could find: an apricot, a computer printer—even frozen, breaded, dinosaur-shaped chicken nuggets! But when the warriors finally meet each other, the most epic round of battles begins . . . and never ends. That is why, to this day, children around the world honor these worthy adversaries by playing ROCK, PAPER, SCISSORS!

Suggested subtitle: "To be read out loud, with voices". Think deep, serious voice-over tones: 

"I hope you're wearing your battle pants, rock warrior."

"If by 'battle pants' you mean 'no pants, but I'm willing to fight you,' then yes...yes, I am wearing my battle pants, weird scissory one!"

If you don't have this one yet, you need to hurry out and get it before your end-of year field trips begin, because this is a sure crowd-pleaser for all ages! If you have time, a fun extension would be to toss out some other traditional kids' games (hopscotch? tic-tac-toe?) and challenge kids to write their origin legend!

Reviews: More New Picture Books!

9780062285805

Freddy and Frito play together every day—sometimes at Frito's and sometimes at Freddy's. But there are rules. Rules aren't fun! So what do these best buddies do? They build their own clubhouse in a tree in the park! With no rules, there's plenty of fun—until all of their friends come by for a party, and suddenly Freddy and Frito wish for a way to make them all leave!

A word to publicists: if you are going to compare a new duo to "Mo Willems' Elephant and Piggie and the classic Frog and Toad," they had better really deliver. These guys don't quite come close. All on its own, this can be a nice little story about the need for some rules, but it's not quite rock-star-Mo-Willems caliber.

9780062291783

Buster Bickles's big ideas are always getting him into trouble. But when Buster gets to test the newly invented What-if Machine, anything Buster imagines becomes reality. Packed with rivers of chocolate, robot dinosaurs, and eggs-ray vision, the world becomes Buster's creation in this fantastically creative picture book by debut author-illustrator Dave Wasson.

Well, anything with rivers of chocolate can't be all bad - unfortunately, it was actually a river of caramel (read the book, blurb-people!), which is still pretty cool - salted caramel being all the rage now.

It is an understatement to say that my kiddos have pretty wild imaginations at times, and their "what-if"s have made for some interesting car combinations. This silly tale should go over well with them and with every other imaginative kid!


9780062223999

Chu and his family are going to the beach! Chu is excited. He will get to play in the sand and wade in the water. But what will happen if Chu sneezes at the beach? And what will happen if he doesn't?

We love Chu! He is just cuter than cute, and the oops-sorry-but-i'm-still-cute expression after he sneezes makes him even cuter. The beach is such a wide-open place, though...a sneeze couldn't possibly cause THAT much trouble, could it?

These books are all available in stores now, and on our shelves soon!

Picture Book Reviews - Back to School!

Out just in time for school, which starts here next week:

9780062223975

Children who are not familiar with Chu's first book, and his prodigious sneezes, may not get a full appreciation of this story. It is still a cute, simple tale addressing those first day jitters. You can't beat Adam Rex's illustrations for adorable animal expressions (I especially liked the giraffe just after the sneeze!) 

9780062243003

Oh, goody, a picture book for my husband. Flip and Fin have some...er...'great' jokes (What do sea monsters eat? Fish and ships!), and Flip is looking forward to joke day at school. At first his biggest problem is deciding which joke to tell, but then he gets stage fright and can't get any out at all. Fin to the rescue! There are piles of jokes that will appeal to young readers, who will probably insist on telling them to everyone they encounter - so, be warned!

9780062286185

A cute fuzzy monster asks, "What's school for? I already know my ABGs!" We've already enjoyed watching these monsters learn their colors. The same energy and fun carry us through the first day of school, as little blue discovers school is a great place to be.

Review: Unlucky Charms by Adam Rex

978-006-206-0051

 

I love when a publisher sends me a review copy of a book I am just about to order for myself. This came in the mail the very day it was released, and I devoured half of it on my lunch hour!

 

I reviewed the first book in this series, Cold Cereal, in this post (which I just realized contains an embarrassing number of typos - I will fix those shortly!). It was hard to give a synopsis of that one without giving things away, and while still making sense. This one is almost as difficult, and that is part of its charm. The writing still reminds me of Daniel M. Pinkwater, now with some J.R.R. Tolkein creeping in. Did that make you tilt your head and give a puzzled expression as you tried to picture what that would look like? Good, then I think you're ready.

 

All the characters from Cold Cereal, the good, the bad, and the aggravating, reappear in Unlucky Charms. Scott's Mom is even there - until, suddenly, she isn't. New characters are introduced (queens both human and fae), backstories are fleshed out, and the group is divided as different quests with the same end goal are pursued (see? Tolkein). Rex is able to keep the different stories going at a quick pace, without confusing the reader. I finished reading happy with what I had learned, but anxious for the next installment. Get on with it, Rex!

 

I would recommend this one for grades 4 up through high school, especially any readers into fantasy and/or hilarity. The size (just shy of 400 pages) may be daunting to a reluctant reader, but a chapter or two read aloud could hook them pretty firmly. Thank-you, HarperCollins, for the very timely review copy!