Tag: Funny book

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“Ask the Expert” Kidlit

📚💡 Need advice? These two “experts” have you covered.

One is a wise Jedi master made from folded paper.

The other runs a problem-solving business from the top of the jungle gym.

Somehow, both are surprisingly effective.

🟢 The Strange Case of Origami Yoda by Tom Angleberger
When Dwight brings an Origami Yoda finger puppet to school, his classmates are skeptical. After all, the advice is coming from a crumpled piece of paper. But when Yoda starts accurately predicting outcomes and helping kids navigate everything from friendships to embarrassing middle school moments, everyone begins to wonder: Is Origami Yoda actually wise…or is there something more going on?

I loved how the book captures the feeling of desperately wanting answers in middle school and being willing to seek them from the most unlikely sources.

🛝 The Recess Genius: Open for Business by Janet Sumner Johnson, illustrated by Stacy Ebert
Regina Grey isn’t the fastest, strongest, or most popular kid at school. In fact, she’d usually rather disappear into a good book. But when she accidentally solves a classmate’s problem, word spreads fast. Soon she’s holding office hours atop the jungle gym, helping kids with everything from annoying siblings to itchy casts to gum stuck in hair.

I especially loved that Regina’s “genius” isn’t some extraordinary talent—it’s based on her creativity, her curiosity, and her observation skills.

✨ If you had a dilemma, would you ask Origami Yoda or the Recess Genius?

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Today’s book recommendation: SOMETHING ROTTEN: A FRESH LOOK AT ROADKILL by Heather L. Montgomery | Illustrated by Kevin O’Malley

– Published by Bloomsbury Children’s Books

– Middle Grade Nonfiction

If you’re super squeamish, this might not be the book for you. But if you can handle descriptions of dead animals, it’s definitely worth a read. I found it fascinating and my boys could NOT get enough of it! We read it together before school, and each day they rushed to get ready so we would have more time to read. If that’s not a win, I don’t know what is! 🙂

📚 Here’s the official book promo:

*****
When Heather L. Montgomery sees a rattlesnake flattened on the side of the road, her first instinct is to pick it up and dissect it–she’s always wanted to see how a snake’s fangs retract when they close their mouths, and it’s not exactly safe to poke around in a live reptile’s mouth.

A wildlife researcher with a special penchant for the animals that litter the roadways, Heather isn’t satisfied with dissecting just one snake. Her fascination with roadkill sets her off on a journey from her own backyard and the roadways of the American South to scientists and kids in labs and homes across the globe. From biologists who use the corpses of Tasmanian devils to investigate cures for a contagious cancer, to a scientist who discovered a whole new species of bird from a single wing left behind, to a boy rebuilding animal bodies from the bones up, to a restaurant that serves up animal remnants, Heather discovers that death is just the beginning for these creatures.

Dig into this eye-opening and irreverent look at the dead and dying animals that we pass by without a second thought.
*****

Montgomery’s passionate curiosity is contagious, and I just love how she takes readers along with her on this bizarre, but interesting, learning journey. Her prose is full of good humor, and I found myself laughing out loud so many times reading this book.

SOMETHING ROTTEN has won a ton of awards, including a JLG Gold Standard, an ALA Notable Book, and the Chicago Public Library Best Book of the Year, so be brave and give this book a try!

Happy reading!