Month: August 2017

Vamplets Book One: The Nightmare Nursery by Gayle Middleton and Dave Dwonch and illustrated by Amanda Coronado with Bill Blankenship is a graphic novel for more savvy kids given that the main plot trigger is vampires and other paranormals promiscuously producing babies which they are too busy to parent – especially since adolescence is 777…

It’s Quacking Time! by Martin Waddell (such an appropriate last name) and illustrated by Jill Barton is an adequate though not very engaging picture book addressing the topic of having a baby – but without the touchy subjects of reproduction and childbirth.  This is accomplished by telling the story of Duckling and his family: at…

Margaret Wise Brown is the author of several classic children’s picture books including Goodnight Moon, The Runaway Bunny, and The Color Kittens.  The lilting, steady prose makes for a good bedtime read-aloud – though everyone will want to stay awake for the illustrations (the first two illustrated by Clement Hurd and the third by Alice…

Kung Fu Panda 2 (and the first and third editions) works mainly because Jack Black does such a good job of bringing the title character to life.  The three movies are pretty similar so unless you’re a really big fan of animated Kung Fu movies with anthropomorphized characters and/or of DreamWorks films, you only need…