Oh Yes I Did

Because what good are you as a teacher of reading if you don't occasionally read the books your students are most excited about?

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Getaway
by Jeff Kinney
Harry N. Abrams, 2017

A humorous look at everything that could possibly go wrong on ditch-the-holidays family vacation, with a little bit of arachnophobia thrown in for good measure.

Dog Man and Cat Kid
by Dav Pilkey
Graphix, 2017

You can just about hear Dav Pilkey laughing out loud to himself as he writes these. I mean, really. Allusions to Faulkner? A robot named 80-HD? (say it out loud so you, too, can get the joke)

And in case you think Dog Man is all light fluff with no redeeming qualities, consider how Cat Kid reprograms his robot 80-HD (I can't even type that without cracking up) so that it has free will. "From now on, you can choose your own path." He tells it, "Thou mayest," so that it can choose whether or not to be loyal to Cat Kid. (It does.)

And then there's the part where Cat Kid admits he hasn't been perfect and, in a direct quote from Faulkner, the Italian actress tells him, "...now that you don't have to be perfect...you can be good."

Sure, there's Flip-O-Rama, but there's deep stuff, too.

Hotdogger (and Ignoramus)

Hotdogger (The Aldo Zelnick Comic Novel Series)

by Karla Oceanak

illustrated by Kendra Spanjer

Bailiwick Press, September 1, 2013

review copy provided by the publisher

It's winter in Fort Collins, Colorado, where Aldo lives, and winter in the Front Range of Colorado means skiing.

But Aldo doesn't want to go. Doesn't want to with a passion that only the most avid couch potato (that would be Aldo) can muster.

What I like about this eighth book in the alphabetic Aldo Zelnick series is that Aldo finally starts to show some glimmers of being able to change his ways.



This just came in the mail, so I'm officially behind in the series, but looking forward to what's up next for Aldo and his crew:

Ignoramus (The Aldo Zelnick Comic Novel Series)

by Karla Oceanak

illustrated by Kendra Spanjer

Bailiwick Press, December 15, 2013
review copy provided by the publisher

Aldo's birthday is on February 14! Poor Aldo! I'm sure this is going to bring out his curmudgeonly best worst.

Finicky

Finicky (The Aldo Zelnick Comic Novel Series)
by Karla Oceanak
illustrated by Kendra Spanjer
Bailiwick Press, 2012
review copy provided by the publisher

It's hard to believe we're already to the sixth book in the Aldo Zelnick series! I have a student who is waging a one-man boycott of our school cafeteria over the very same issue that moves Aldo and his friends to protest -- no more pizza day on Tuesdays!

This volume is sure to please food lovers and finicky eaters alike, and the feast of words that begin with F fairly overflows!  Aldo and his fellow endomorph of a dad get a little more serious about their health and weight, and Aldo serves up a steaming banquet of remorse when his protests get a little out of hand.

Another must-read for Aldo Zelnick fans, and also for the Nate the Great and Wimpy Kid crowd.

Great New Series: Frankie Pickle

Frankie Pickle and the Closet of Doom
written and illustrated by Eric Wight
Simon and Schuster Books for Young Readers
on the shelves May 5, 2009

Franklin Lorenzo Piccolini (aka Frankie Pickle) is a kid with a runaway imagination. The simple act of reaching for a toaster waffle becomes a scene from an Indiana Jones movie, and when he's sent to clean up his room and finds his GoGo Robo buried in the dirty laundry, it's suddenly time for WonderPickle to save "the metropolitan metropolis of Metro City" from the attack of GoGo Robo, resulting in an even messier room. Surprisingly, his mom agrees with him that if he doesn't want to clean his room, he doesn't have to. She simply says, "Whatever happens, you have to deal with the consequences."

Life is good when you don't have to clean your room! (Except when the Dryer Sheet Fairy stops magically delivering clean clothes.) And if you're not cleaning your room, you might as well skip cleaning yourself, right? ("Seriously, Mom. You're going to have to change his name to Stanky.") Who cares if it gets so bad that your faithful sidekick, the cute Westie named Argyle, won't even come in your room? ("Fine, you're a bed hog anyway.")

Finally, it gets to be too much even for Frankie and he deals with all the consequences, right down to taking a bath that results in water that looks "like milk did from Frosted Cocoa Loops."

This graphic novel hybrid is sure to be a hit with elementary kids in grades 2-5. I asked two of my graphic novel readers to check it out and they loved it. The way the story changes visually when Frankie's imagination takes hold reminded them of Baby Mouse. They liked the fake-brand-names-that-sound-real, like Frosted Cocoa Loops, and the dryer sheet cape that Frankie makes. I wanted my hybrid (Fogmound series) reader to read it next, but another friend was looking for a book when the first two finished, so we gave it to him. I'm pretty sure this is a book that will eventually make a complete circuit of my 4th grade classroom. And we're already looking forward to the next book in the series!

EDITED TO ADD:

From author/illustrator Eric Wight:

"I just turned in my manuscript for Frankie #2: FRANKIE PICKLE AND THE PINE RUN 3000 (the Pinewood Derby meets Speed Racer), and am writing Frankie #3: FRANKIE PICKLE AND THE MULTIPLYING MENACE (math meets Lord of the Rings). The plan is to do at least a dozen of them, with two coming out a year.

Definitely keep me in mind for school visits next year too. I have a couple of fun programs I'm putting together where the kids help me write a little adventure and then I do a drawing of it, or one where I help them make their own comic. By next school year I'll have galleys for the next two books. #2 is due next February, but we are trying to move it up to this November."