8-Year-Old Boy Review: Spiderwick Chronicles

Review by Tintin, age 8

The Spiderwick Chronicles

Author/illustrator: Holly Black & Tony DiTerlizzi

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers (September 2004)

Source: Home library/public library/school library

The Spiderwick Chronicles are about a boy named Jared, a girl named Mallory, and another boy named Simon. Jared found a book in which creepy, terrifying, and terrible things would happen. Here are some of the creatures you will find in these books: brownies, goblins, trolls, hobgoblins, griffins, elves, dwarves, and of course Mulgarath the ogre. Now these books have one very important book called Arthur's Field Guide to the Fantastical World Around You. There are more creepy and exciting creatures, so have fun with The Spiderwick Chronicles. I would recommend these books to any child ages 7 to 11 years old all around the world.

Mulgarath from the books (top) and from the movie (bottom):

5-Year-Old Books of the Week: Bumblebee Boy, Awesome Man, Happy Pig Day!, Hocus Pocus, Super-Dragon

We're back to blogging after a little break! Here are Johnny Boo's favorite books this week (Tintin is in the middle of reading Vordak the Incomprehensible again).

The Amazing Adventures of Bumblebee Boy
Author/illustrator: Jacky Davis/David Soman
Publisher: Dial (October 2011)
Source: Public library

Don't expect to see Ladybug Girl in this book--this time it's all about Bumblebee Boy. Oh, and some pirates, dragons and lions, too. Bumblebee Boy's little brother tries to get in on the action, but a superhero like Bumblebee Boy doesn't need an assistant--or does he? Even without Ladybug Girl, Johnny Boo thinks this is a winner.

The Astonishing Secret of Awesome Man
Author/illustrator: Michael Chabon/Jake Parker
Publisher: Balzer + Bray (September 2011)
Source: Public library

Awesome Man seems like your typical awesome superhero. He's super-strong and fights evil villains; he flies and shoots positronic rays out of his eyeballs. But what's he hiding? Maybe he's not so typical after all... Mixed reviews on Amazon, but Johnny Boo had me read it twice in a row, so that's all I care about.

Happy Pig Day!
Author/illustrator: Mo Willems
Publisher: Hyperion (October 2011)
Source: Public library

Another new Elephant & Piggie book! What's so great about Pig Day, and who are all those pigs? Gerald's feeling a little left out, until Piggie reveals a funny secret. Johnny Boo read this to himself and, as always, we took turns being Gerald and Piggie while we read together.

Hocus Pocus
Author/illustrator: Sylvie Desrosiers/Remy Simard
Publisher: Kids Can Press (August 2011)
Source: Public library

Hocus Pocus is a (nearly) wordless book about a rabbit and a dog who live with a magician, who is oblivious to the animals' Tom-and-Jerry-like relationship. When Hocus Pocus (the rabbit) spots a carrot on the counter, he must make his way to it without waking up Dog. Unfortunately for Hocus Pocus, Dog does wake up, and hilarity ensues.

Super-Dragon
Author/illustrator: Steven Kroll/Douglas Holgate
Publisher: Marshall Cavendish Children's Books (February 2011)
Source: Public library

Drago's family is entering a flying contest, but Drago isn't allowed to enter because he doesn't know how to fly yet. He sits by as his family practices, but at night while everyone's asleep he takes flying lessons from a bird. At the contest two weeks later Drago surprises everyone with his Figure 8 skills and saves the day for his family.

Books of the Week: Joey Fly, Private Eye; Sardine in Outer Space; Patrick (Toon Books); Wonder Woman

Here are our favorites from last week:

Tintin, age 8

Joey Fly, Private Eye in Big Hairy Drama
Author/illustrator: Aaron Reynolds/Neil Numberman
Publisher: Henry Holt & Co. (November 2010)
Source: Public library

In this second Joey Fly graphic novel, Joey and his assistant, Sammy, are called upon to solve the disappearance of Greta Divawing, the star of the Scarab Beetle Theater. Joey rounds up the cast and crew of the theater to find out what happened to the missing butterfly, but he has only a few days until Greta's next performance.

Tintin's note: I liked when the Painted Lady was missing and Mr. Fly had to figure out the problem.

Sardine in Outer Space 6
Author/illustrator: Emmanuel Guibert
Publisher: First Second (October 2008)
Source: Public library

One of Tintin's favorite graphic novel series, Sardine features colorful panels about a space pirate and her friends. The sixth Sardine includes nine stories, covering a rude cell phone, flying wooden horses, edible moons, an imprisoned Cupid, a depressed planet, and more. And of course, the evil Doc Krok and Supermuscleman make several appearances throughout the book.

Tintin's note: My favorite is the story about how Uncle Yellow Shoulder lost his eye. He has a yellow shoulder because his parrot peed on him.


Johnny Boo, age 5

Patrick in A Teddy Bear's Picnic and Other Stories
Author/illustrator: Geoffrey Hayes
Publisher: Toon Books (April 2011)
Source: Public library

Patrick the teddy bear goes on a picnic with his mother, tries to get out of napping, and finally overcomes his fear of Big Bear the bully. This Toon Book is yet another great graphic novel for beginning readers.

Johnny Boo's note: I like Big Bear because he's furry.

Wonder Woman: The Story of the Amazon Princess
Author/illustrator: Ralph Cosentino

Publisher: Viking Juvenile (April 2011)

Source: Public library

This is the story of how Wonder Woman came to be, told in picture book format but with the feel of a comic book. There's a bit of mythology, a few villains, and lots of color. We had to read this one several times in a row, several days in a row, and are looking forward to checking out Cosentino's Superman and Batman books as well.

Johnny Boo's note: I like her black hair.

A Kid's Review: Valentine the Porcupine Dances Funny

Review by Johnny Boo, age 5




















Valentine the Porcupine Dances Funny
Author/illustrator: Derrick Brown/Jenny Lewis
Publisher: Write Fuzzy
Source: The publisher

Valentine the Porcupine is about a radio with a porcupine who says, "Will someone dance with me?" Her momma says, "Strange is cool," and Valentine says, "I believe you, Momma." And then her momma says, "I love you because you're you." My favorite part is when she got a laser that would give homeless people homes and when the blowfish said, "Will someone dance with me?" The pictures are awesome. My favorite picture is when Valentine is holding the blowfish up. I would recommend this book to silly people.

Buy it: Amazon


It took illustrator Jenny Lewis 10 months to cut out, glue and paint every element of every page. Below she demonstrates how Valentine came to be:

It's a Boy-Tested Book Bonanza!

Check out our new page, It's a Boy-Tested Book Bonanza!, for a list of books my boys love. Come back often to see what we've added!

And now, in honor of Ice Cream Sandwich Day:

Comic-Con: Johnny Boo, G-Man, SpongeBob, VIZ Kids Sampler, Okie Dokie Donuts, Pirate Penguin Vs. Ninja Chicken

We went to San Diego Comic-Con last weekend!





















While there we met James Kochalka, author and illustrator of Johnny Boo. Here he is showing us Dragon Puncher:

Our own Johnny Boo picked just that moment to become shy and overwhelmed, so he hid on the floor while Tintin got the goods--autographed drawings by the Kochalka family and books made by Eli and Oliver Kochalka:

Our autographed drawings (Ray Friesen's Pirate Penguin; the Kochalka family; and Chris Giarrusso's G-Man):

Johnny Boo picked out a SpongeBob comic book, which to our surprise has a contribution from James Kochalka:

We also got a free Viz Kids Sampler, with Mameshiba, Winx Club, Taro, Panda Man, Mr. Men and Little Miss, Pokémon, and The Legend of Zelda:

And we bought two new graphic novels (reviews coming soon) from Top Shelf Productions, Okie Dokie Donuts by Chris Eliopoulos and Pirate Penguin Vs. Ninja Chicken by Ray Friesen, both coming out August 30!

Buy them:

• Johnny Boo, Dragon Puncher, Okie Dokie Donuts, Pirate Penguin Vs. Ninja Chicken, and more from Top Shelf
• G-Man from ChrisGComics.com
• SpongeBob Comics from one of our favorite comic shops
• VIZ Kids comics from VIZ Kids Media

Word of the Week/Pippi Longstocking

It's time for our Word of the Week feature here at LitLad. Here's how it works: Every week the boys and I read a book from which they pick their favorite-sounding unfamiliar word. They each write down the word and we try to use it in conversation as much as we can throughout the week. According to The Read-Aloud Handbook by Jim Trelease, "the only words children learn having heard them only once are the words you wish you had never said in front of them."

This week's word is ignorant, an adjective meaning "lacking knowledge, information or awareness in general or about something in particular."

And we're reading Pippi Longstocking, in which a policeman says to the school-eschewing Pippi, "Yes, but just think how embarrassing it will be for you to be so ignorant."

Pippi Longstocking

Author/illustrator: Astrid Lindgren/Nancy Seligsohn

Publisher: Scholastic

Source: Public library

Pippi is a free-spirited girl who lives by herself (unless you count her monkey, Mr. Nilsson, or the horse that she lifts over her porch whenever she wants to ride him). She gets herself into all sorts of interesting situations:playing tag with policemen, performing circus acts better than the actual circus performers, dancing with burglars, and rescuing children from a burning skyscraper. Her neighbors, Tommy and Annika, join Pippi on many of her adventures while hearing her probably not-always-true tales of her family and of people in the faraway lands she visited when aboard her father's ship.

Tintin's note: My favorite part is when she beat the strongest man in the world for $100.

Johnny Boo's note: It's so great and rockin'! I like it because I like when she says that man has big ears.

Because it's been a couple of weeks since we've posted our favorite titles, here's a short list of what we've been enjoying lately: