Sisters (Raina Telgemeier)

I've seen books by this author in a lot of places. They're blogged about a lot. They are in all the bookstores. They have been begging me to read them. I finally got to it!

This one is a graphic novel (I get the feeling most of Raina Telgemeier's books are graphic novels). They're a quick read. I have to force myself to slow down and look at the pictures as well as read the words.

This book is easy to follow. The main character has flash backs to when she wishes she had a sister, to when her sister was born, etc. The flashback pages are yellow. In my dimly lit bedroom it took me a little bit of time to clue into that! It makes it easy though.

I had to really chuckle at the snake issues in the book. The younger sister wants a snake - but the older sister is afraid of snakes. The younger sister gets one anyway. (I hate snakes....I couldn't live in a house with a snake or travel in a van with a snake....she totally won my respect there. I wouldn't have done it!) They call it "the incident".

The vignettes are real and relatable. I had to laugh at the section where they want a pet. They try fish. Fish die. They get another one. Finally, after a few tries at keeping fish, they decide to try something else. This is juxtaposed by the announcement that they're going to have a little brother. I thought that was pretty funny next to the pet conversations.

All in all, it's a fun book. It is a great read for girls who have a sister, or wish they had a sister, or wish they didn't have a sister.

Comic Squad - Recess (Gene Luen Yang, Dav Pilkey, Jarrett Krosoczka, Ursula Vernon, Jennifer and Matthew Holm, Eric Wight, Dan Santat, Raina Telgemeier and Dave Roman)

Comic Squad Recess is by a lot of authors! To be exact:
Gene Luen Yang - American Born Chinese
Dav Pilkey - Captain Underpants!
Jarrett Krosoczka - Lunch Lady Series
Ursula Vernon
Jennifer and Matthew Holm - BabyMouse series
Eric Wight
Dan Santat
Raina Telgemeier
Dave Roman

It is a collection of writing from all these hilarious people.

I especially loved that it is dedicated to The Nerdy Book Club. They are cool!

This is a fun, easy and quite hilarious read. Lighten up. You should read it!

Happy Birthday Baby Mouse (Jennifer Holm)

The Holms did it again. I can see why kids love these books. They talk about issues kids have (what if no one wants to come to your birthday party.....your main event of the year!) and they do it with great humor. This one is a keeper, for sure.

Babymouse: Heartbreaker (Jennifer Holm)

Goodreads summary: AHHH, VALENTINE'S DAY! Babymouse loves Valentines Day! A day for pink hearts! Flowers! Candy! School dances and romance . . . sweetromance! WAIT! Romance? Ew! And what's this about a school dance? Does that mean Babymouse needs a date? Uh-oh! Looks like thisValentine's Day may turn into a Valentine's dud! Will Babymouse go to the school dance? Will she get any Valentines? Will she find true love? Find out in . . . Babymouse: Heartbreaker!

Cute....kinda sappy too. Brings out all those feelings I remember about being worried about how things would go at a school dance! In the end she dances with a giraffe....and isn't that how junior high goes? Although, often it is the girl that is the giraffe, er, tall one.

I was telling my 15 year old about this book. She said, "I love Babymouse!" .....and there she sat, soaking up another Babymouse. She confirmed, it totally does capture those Jr. High dance feelings! :)

Baby Mouse Queen of the World! (Jennifer Holm)

I liked this book. Lots of cute graphics and I loved babymouse's sassy-ness. It's definitely one to add to my classroom library. I'm a little concerned there is too much pink for the boys to swallow. How come girls can read boy's books, but boy's can't read girls books? The most popular graphic novels are directed at boys, so I liked that this one was different. I rarely see girls reading Amulet or Bone books.

 I picked is one up hoping it would be a good graphic novel for my gr. 3 book club, but I am concerned that a good reader in Gr 3 would read it in one sitting - one pretty short sitting, actually. It will be a great one for my struggling readers though!

There are lots if good lessons taught in this book: Not worrying about being popular, for one. I love that she realizes she doesn't like the sitting around and  talking about boy, looks, etc., like the girls do at the sleepover where she finally gets invited. She goes back to her old pal, eats cupcakes and watches horror movies.

Goodreads summary: 

It’s the same thing every day for Babymouse. Where is the glamour? The excitement? The adventure? Nothing ever changes, until . . . Babymouse hears about Felicia Furrypaws’s exclusive slumber party. Will Babymouse get invited? Will her best friend, Wilson, forgive her if she misses their monster movie marathon? Find out in Babymouse: Queen of the World, a graphic novel with attitude!

It's really quite a fun book. I even got Peirce reading it:

Timmy Failure Mistakes Were Made (Stephan Pastis)

Recently I was talking with some teachers and the topic of graphics novels came up. They figured the poor state of children's writing skills was partially due to the graphic novels that are becoming so popular. I was a little perplexed. I have read a few and haven't been bothered by how they are written (which is a little unlike how I felt about Geronimo Stilton books after reading a couple of those!) I mentioned that, while I aim certainly no graphics novel expert, there certainly are some that are pretty darn good actually. You can find a graphic novel version of a lot of different books! ...even classics! The person I was talking with admitted he hadn't read any. That was kind of where I smugly ended the conversation. I was feeling pretty proud for having read a few.

That is basically what led me to read this one. Although, I must admit, this one was a little painful! Good thing it is a quick read. I don't think I could endure the silliñess for too long.....but I do think it is right up the alley of your average Gr. 3 child - so I am certainly glad I took the hour or so it took to speed read it.

Timmy Failure is a pretty obtuse, funny kid. Even a grumpy old lady like me had to chuckle now and then. Definitely a perfect book for my Gr. 3 kids. It has crazy humor throughout. The vocab is pretty challenging for a student that age, I'd say - but I would kids would work through it because they'd be caught up in the silly humor. Donalyn Miller, on her GoodReads review suggested this might be a great book to practice inferring skills. She's right! A lot of times Timmy, the self-proclaimed great detective, overlooks clues. Great opportunity for inferring!!