Children's Review: Not a Box

Not a Box
Antoinette Portis

Rating: 5/5
Plot: 5/5
Characters: 5/5
Writing: 5/5
Illustrations: 5/5

I have forever been in love with this book. Not a Box details the inner lives of millions of imaginative children who can go on adventures with little flash and just the assistance of a box and a garden hose. The story is simple, the writing clean and unadorned. The images are the truth of the story, showing first the main character's physical reality with the box and followed by a red-sketched version of the same image only improved by the character's imagination.

One of the joys of this book for me is that the main character is entirely without gender. This story is designed to appeal to girls or boys or kids who haven't figured it out yet. Being a rabbit, the main character is also without human ethnicity and the simple style of storytelling transports any child into the not-a-box of this character. This is also an excellent choice for read-aloud storytimes, as the limited story and bold strokes of the illustration are very easy for children to grasp and expand on. Highly recommended for anyone who ever went to the moon in a box.

Childrens Review: Chickens to the Rescue

Chickens to the Rescue
John Himmelman

Rating: 5/5
Plot: 5/5
Characters: 5/5
Writing: 5/5

Chickens to the Rescue is one of my favorite childrens' books of all time. I am eternally disappointed that this book wasn't around when I was a kid. It follows the adventures of the family that live on the Greenstalk farm. As the story progresses, each member of the family has a puzzle they can't figure out and then the next page is always a two-page spread of a wild conglomeration of chickens solving the humans' problems.

Each page is full of life and activity and the chicken pages are the sort of hunt-and-find images that remind me of Steven Kellog's illustrations for Meg Karper's Jimmy's Boa books. There are dozens of things happening on every page and there is such delight in finding the weird things this or that chicken might be doing just on the edge of a page.

The story itself is straightforward and simple as each Greenstalk laments their problem where the chickens can hear them. It really isn't any more complicated than that, with most of the storytelling being supported in the illustrations. Himmelman's chickens are whimsical and wild, mischievous and with their own personalities throughout.

I highly recommend this book and it's sister books, Cows to the Rescue, Pigs to the Rescue, and Duck to the Rescue. Yes, just the one duck. He's a wonder-duck.

Blog Entry: I Live!

So, some of you may have noticed that there were two blog postings recently with no content. They have since been removed and I wanted to explain what's going on around here.

I let my schedule get away from me. I'm way behind in books I wanted to review, videos I wanted to make, and pretty much everything associated with this blog and its associated YouTube channel. I am still here and I am still planning to continue with reviews and vlogs. I'm just horribly behind at the moment.

Stay tuned to this space and the channel for more news.

PS: No, the Trump fanfic did not kill me dead. *significant glare at Avery*

Adult Review: Black Widow: The Finely Woven Thread

Black Widow: The Finely Woven Thread
written by Nathan Edmondson
illustrated by Phil Noto

Overall Rating: 4/5
Plot: 4/5
Characters: 4/5
Writing: 4/5
Artwork: 5/5

This graphic novel follows a solo story arc of Black Widow, Marvel's talented black ops assassin. Filled with action and beautiful artwork, it's a solid addition to the Marvel comic universe and a pleasure to read and view.

While I enjoyed the artwork and the story progression, I didn't take away a great deal from the story itself. There were no new revelations about the character or her background, but it was fun to spend the time with Natasha. Not groundbreaking, but still an excellent story arc.