Mighty Jack and the Goblin King by Ben Hatke, 208 pp, RL 4

-

I am a huge, huge fan of Ben Hatke's books and have been anxiously awaiting the follow up to Mighty Jack, a fantastic, amazing, action packed retelling of the Jack and the Beanstalk fairy tale. Mighty Jack and the Goblin King is finally here and it is breathtakingly exciting.

With Mighty Jack, Hatke introduced us to our hero, Jack, his little sister Maddy, who is autistic, and their neighbor Lilly, with Lilly revealing that, not only is she a botanist and horticulturist, and a bit of a mixologist, she is a fierce fighter with an arsenal to show it. Armed with plant concoctions that will give them various abilities in battle as well as fencing gear, the two head off after the creature that has captured Maddy and fled through a portal to another world, with Lilly earning equal billing in this phenomenal second book in a trilogy. 


Once there, things go bad quickly as Jack and Lilly are separated, fighting their own battles as they make their way up the rat infested beanstalk. There are goblins and giants, a misplaced muscle car and a princess dress and a diabolical machine that requires a human sacrifice every 500 years in order for the giants to maintain control of the beanstalk, which is also a nexus point, "a pocket in space and time. A place of connection between several worlds." Hatke fans and close readers might know what one of these "other worlds" is, and they will also go bonkers when they turn the final page of Mighty Jack and the Goblin King.

Source: Review Copy

Popular posts from this blog

Fox + Chick: The Sleepover and Other Stories by Sergio Ruzzier

-
Image
Fox + Chick : The Sleepover and Other Stories  by Sergio Ruzzier Review Copy from Chronicle Books Friends. Opposites. Inhabitants of a pastel-hued, water color world that is vaguely surreal, Fox and Chick are back for a third installment of their inviting, if curious, easy-to-read stories. In "The Sleepover," "The Hammer," and "The Surprise," Chick's odd logic is once again upending Fox's life. Happily, Fox responds with patience and even wisdom at times. To these unforgettable characters and luminous illustrations, Ruzzier brings a sublime simplicity that makes this series perfect for emerging readers, adding books with character and intelligence to the often dull world of beginning reader books. If you aren't familiar with this delightful duo, definitely check out my reviews of the first two books (links below) where I put the greatness of Ruzzier's work into historical ( Frog & Toad ) context. Then check out ALL of Ruzzier's p
Read more

Be a Tree! by Maria Gianferrari illustrated by Felicita Sala

-
Image
Be a Tree! by Maria Gianferrari illustrated by Felicita Sala Review Copy from Abrams Kids I picture-walked Be a Tree! three times before I actually read the words. Felicita Sala's illustrations for Maria Gianferrari's poetic text are mesmerizingly immersive and richly colorful within a palette of earth tones. Throughout the text, Gianferrari, who shares her inspiration for this book in the author's note ( Peter Wohleben's The Hidden Life of Trees ), gently maintains the human connection to trees and the connections (and communications) trees share with each other.  Be a Tree!  begins exuberantly, inviting the reader to "Be a tree! Stand tall. Stretch your branches to the sun. Let your roots curl, coil in the soil to ground you." From your spine/trunk to your skin/bark and your heart/pith, the words carry you inward and then zoom outward and up to the canopy and ultimately, the forest. "You are one of many trees," and our roots "twine with fung
Read more

Reading Levels: A Quick Guide to Determining if a Book Is Right for Your Reader

-
Image
While I wrote an article titled Reading Levels: How I Assign Reading Levels to Books, How the Publishers Do It and How You Can Help Your Reader Find the Right Book at the Right Time that discusses how reading levels are determined by professionals and amateurs like myself, there is more on this subject to discuss. Determining the reading level of a book from the children's section is never easy, mostly because there are several different standardized methods of determining reading levels. Add to this the fact that knowing their children's reading level is most often the only tool a parent is armed with when exploring the bookstore, library, website, etc, and the job becomes even more difficult. While I think that knowing a child's reading level is a very valuable tool if your child is reading below grade level, I think that it is a secondary consideration when finding books for children reading above, especially well above, grade level because, in most cases, content app
Read more