Quirky new school tales get an A+
Published 5:50 pm Sunday, September 20, 2009
Now that school has started, add some extra fun with these great new school-themed books for kids:
She wears rubber gloves and an apron as she serves french fries, gravy and pizza. But she also has a secret life as a gadget-toting crime-fighter. She’s Lunch Lady, the star of a new graphic novel series written and illustrated by Jarrett J. Krosoczka. So far, Krosoczka has published two books in the series: “Lunch Lady and the Cyborg Substitute” and “Lunch Lady and the League of Librarians” ($5.99 each, ages 5 to 10). The books revolve around a trio of students called the Breakfast Bunch who team up with Lunch Lady and her fellow cafeteria workers to fight evil.
In “Panda Kindergarten” ($17.99, ages 4 to 8), author Joanne Ryder and photographer Katherine Feng team up to give an up-close-and-personal look at some adorable young pandas at the Wolong Nature Preserve in China.
Ryder uses clear language to tell readers just what pandas learn in kindergarten. Feng’s photographs, however, inescapably steal the show. Check out an especially memorable couple of photos showing the pandas napping together.
Poet Jack Prelutsky knows how to have fun with words as he demonstrates once again in “What a Day It Was at School! ($6.99, ages 7 to 10). From science homework that eats a child’s dog to a backpack that weighs a thousand pounds, Prelutsky’s poems — complemented with Doug Cushman’s illustrations — will get kids laughing.
