While I’m not a parent I still really enjoyed this book. The comics were funny and entirely relatable. Plus, the drawings are of ducks. What’s not to love about ducks?!
I’ve observed so many of these moments with friends’ kids, along with the sticky kids who always end up next to you in the checkout line and the ones playing the games with annoying music at the highest possible volume on their parent’s phone at the doctor’s surgery. Whenever I come across a Fowl Language moment I have such admiration for the way parents manage the seemingly impossible and usually think, ‘You poor things’ and feel myself wanting to give the frazzled parents a hug. Yet at the same time I’m probably also thinking, ‘This is reason number 638 why I don’t have kids’.
There’s always something cathartic about finding a “Me, too!” moment when you feel like you’re the only one going through something and parents are definitely going to find plenty of those in this book. This is a book that can used to reminisce – “Look what we survived!”, to encourage – “I think I can, I think I can” or possibly even as an effective form of birth control.
Thank you so much to NetGalley and Andrews McMeel Publishing for the opportunity to read this book.
⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 4 out of 5.
Once Upon a Blurb
The Internet sensation, Fowl Language Comics, is back with its second book, Fowl Language: The Struggle Is Real, the perfect parenting humor book for anyone who liked Toddlers Are A**holes!
He’s back, and he’s totally got parenting figured out this time. KIDDING.
It’s another collection of Fowl Language comics, ripped from the headlines of this author’s actual friggin’ life.
You’ll laugh. You’ll cry. You’ll swear. It’s almost exactly like a day of parenting, except without the annoying little people.
The illustrations were beautiful and are what drew me to this book in the first place. I liked that there were photos of the sea creatures towards the back of the book to complement the illustrations. The boundaries of the Collector Urchins didn’t seem distinct enough for a counting book but I loved all of the others.
I became confused about the target audience as I made my way through the book. After all, we’re talking about a counting book here so our audience is maybe 3, 4 or 5 years old? Please keep in mind that all of my questions and comments from here on relate to thinking of this book as being targeted towards 3 to 5 year olds.
The level of information conveyed seemed at too high a level for kids learning to count to 10. Perhaps the same sort of information could have been written in a more age appropriate way? I could see primary school age kids using some of the information found in this book for school projects but at the same time, what primary school child is going to want to open a book that teaches you to count to 10?
While I personally love glossaries I question why words are being used in a counting book that kids learning to count wouldn’t already know. I also think some of the explanations in the glossary needed a glossary of their own. Do kids who are learning to count to 10 know what an organism or crustacean are?
I waited for an explanation to go with the Chocolate Chip Sea Star that didn’t come so I expect there to be a series of conversations between parents and kids ending up somewhere in this territory… “But why can’t you eat the chocolate chips?!”
Thank you so much to NetGalley and Quarto Publishing Group – Seagrass Press for the opportunity to read this book. It really is a beautiful book. I just think it would have worked better if either the illustrations were paired with simpler explanations for a counting book or if the counting part was scrapped so the book could be gorgeous illustrations accompanying interesting facts.
⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 3 out of 5.
Once Upon a Blurb
Introduce your future marine biologist to all of the creatures who live in underwater foliage, and how to count from 1 to 11 in Seagrass Dreams.
Seagrass Dreams is a unique counting book and introduction to marine life that stars animals who make their home in the seagrass. Young children and their parents will love learning to count from 1 to 11 while they also meet a host of marine animals. You’ll be introduced to characters such as the toothy great barracuda, the gliding yellow stingray, the bucktooth parrotfish, and the chocolate chip sea star (not good for adding to cookies).
That isn’t all though! Seagrass Dreams will also teach you each animal’s common name, scientific name, natural habitat, and a whole lot more! This book is loaded with gorgeous illustrations which add a colorful and engaging element. Seagrass Dreams closes with a list of the common species of seagrasses, their scientific names, and where each can be found.
I loved the illustrations but the story didn’t work for me. I get that this was a parody of the author’s previous book If You Give a Mouse a Cookie but I didn’t find it funny. I found the story clichéd and annoying.
The man wants a cookie, then he wants milk, then he puts the empty milk container in the fridge, etc… I’m sure lots of people will love this book but it just wasn’t for me.
Thank you so much to NetGalley and Andrews McMeel Publishing for the opportunity to read this book.
⭐⭐
Rating: 2 out of 5.
Once Upon a Blurb
#1 New York Times bestselling author Laura Numeroff, author of the hugely popular children’s book If You Give a Mouse a Cookie, offers this hilarious parody of her own book for the man in your life.
If you give a man a cookie … he’s going to want milk to go with it … God forbid he should get it himself.
If You Give a Man a Cookie is a woman’s commentary about her helpless man and the chain of events that leads him on a journey from the bed to the bathroom to the couch and back to bed at nightfall.
Now, this is my kind of book! I expect that the level of childlike joy I experienced while reading A is for Asteroids, Z is for Zombies and examining the gory illustrations shows just how much of a sick, sick puppy I am.
I inherited my warped sense of humour from my beloved Nan (the coolest person I’ve ever met) who, despite her adoration of cats and adoption of too many to count throughout her life, owned a well worn copy of 101 Uses for a Dead Cat by Simon Bond. This was one of my favourite books growing up. I would page through it every time I visited Nan and ended up buying my own copy as an adult. The humour in this book reminds me of Simon Bond’s.
My Nan would have loved A is for Asteroids, Z is for Zombies just as much as I do. Taking on some serious contenders for our impending doom, then adding verse that rhymes and lulls you into a false sense of security with the feel of a children’s bedtime story, Paul Lewis has done a fantastic job with this book.
The illustrations, mostly black and white with the appropriate splashes of red, bring the words to life (or should that be death…). Ken Lamug has captured the tale perfectly with simple yet detailed, devastating yet hilarious, scenes of destruction. I loved watching the father’s expression change throughout his reading of Aunt Dorcas’ thoughtful gift for Tim, her nephew.
I expect this book could be polarising but if you aren’t my kind of person I doubt you’d pick it up in the first place. For those who do pick it up, you’re in for a treat that I’m certain you’ll be compelled to read more than once.
Thank you so much to NetGalley and Andrews McMeel Publishing for the opportunity to read this book. This has just become one of my favourite reads of the year.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 5 out of 5.
Once Upon a Blurb
A darkly comic fable that offers visions of the apocalypse for every letter of the alphabet.
Starting with a father whose son has been asking questions about global dangers, A is for Asteroids, Z is for Zombies takes us inside our worst fears, laughing at some and taking others seriously. With macabre verse and fantastically gory illustrations, it provides gallows humour for our doom-haunted times.
When Alchemisto, an old-school villain, turns all water into blood and the world doesn’t go back to normal after the elaborately choreographed fight sequence, it’s up to Technicality Man to save the world. I don’t know if anyone is more surprised than Technicality Man when he actually does save the world.
After this unlikely triumph, Technicality Man decides he can’t go back to mediocrity so he interviews potential sidekicks to put together his own team, Contractually Obliged Multi-Powered Superentities Combating Imperativeness, or COMPSCI.
Can superheroes and supervillains unite against a common enemy set to destroy the Laws of Narrative Practice? Who’s catnapping all of the cats? Who’s playing that ominous background music? Oh, and what time is my interview for a place on a super team?
What Scream did for horror movies, The Adventures of Technicality Man does for superheroes and supervillains. I loved this book! Jessica Meats has taken the Mickey out of every superhero/villain cliché you can think of and more! It’s a quick and easy read, but it’s so funny and clever. I just wish I’d thought of the concept first as this book would have been just as much fun to write as it was to read.
Thank you so much to NetGalley and the author for the opportunity to read this book. This is a super spoof and should be in the hands of super fans, young and not so young, everywhere. Just don’t mention Superm…!
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 5 out of 5.
Once Upon a Blurb
Everyone knows how the stories are supposed to go. The good guys win in the end, the hero ends up with the designated love interest, and the plucky band of misfits pulls together to save the world.
But what happens when a villain targets the nature of stories themselves? All the tropes that the heroes have come to rely on are under threat.
Technicality Man and his trusty companion Continuity Leopard must join forces with a group of minor heroes to save the day. They won’t let any barrier stop them. Not even the fourth wall.
I loved this book! With quirky illustrations, these comics tapped into urban legends, campfire stories and other irrational (or so we’re made to believe) fears we already have, along with some new ones spawned during reading The Creeps.
While reading I vacillated between “Me, too!!” and “Oh, I never thought about that before”, the whole time with a potentially creepy grin plastered on my face. I was compelled to read this book from cover to cover as soon as I received it, which unfortunately was in the morning.
My second reading will definitely take place at night in the dark, with only the light of my iPad protecting me from the ghosts surrounding me and the creature under the bed ready to hold my hand during the night if I dare fall asleep with my arm hanging over the side of the bed.
The Creeps is delightfully creepy but it’s also funny, imaginative and sometimes all too real (in a fun way). I’ll be revisiting this book many times and will be recommending it to my fellow eccentrics and everyone I know with a sense of humour.
Thank you very much to NetGalley and Ten Speed Press for the opportunity to read this book.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 5 out of 5.
Once Upon a Blurb
Illustrator, animator, teacher, and comic artist Fran Krause has touched a collective nerve with his wildly popular web comic series – and subsequent New York Times best-selling book – Deep Dark Fears. Here he brings readers more of the creepy, funny, and idiosyncratic fears they love illustrated in comic form -– such as the fear that your pets will tell other animals all your embarrassing secrets, or that someone uses your house while you’re not home -– as well as two longer comic short-stories about ghosts.
The comics in this book are broken up into sections: grooming and habitat maintenance, life ambitions, mating habits, self-care and social conduct. I started out relating to a lot of the comics early in the book but then realised that I’d already seen all of the good ones on the internet and didn’t really enjoy or relate to the rest.
It’s possible I’m too old for some of the humour and it would work better for women in their late teens or early 20’s. It’s a cute gift book but I wouldn’t personally read it more than once.
Thank you very much to NetGalley and Andrews McMeel Publishing for the opportunity to read this book.
⭐⭐
Rating: 2 out of 5.
Once Upon a Blurb
A collection of Loryn Brantz’s vibrant and relatable Jellybean Comics about her everyday experiences as a lady.
Home manicure tips, awkward seduction techniques, scoping out the snack table, and — most important — prioritising naps: Lady Stuff reveals these womanly secrets and more. In sections like “Grooming and Habitat Maintenance,” “Mating Habits,” and others, these brightly coloured, adorable comics find the humour in the awkwardness of simply existing.
Some girls are happy wearing pink dresses with ruffles. Others are ninjas who climb trees and are cofounders of top-secret organisations. Beatrice Zinker definitely isn’t a fan of pink dresses with ruffles.
Beatrice is a middle child. Her older sister, Kate, is just like her Mum. Her younger brother, Henry, is just like her Dad. Beatrice does all of her best thinking upside down and finds it difficult being the only upside down daughter in a right side up family. Even Oliver, the Zinker’s cat, is right side up!
Beatrice meets her friend Lenny on Halloween night in first grade. They were alike and enjoyed playing pirates, ninjas, zombies and knights. Beatrice is now starting third grade at William Charles Elementary and is ready to start Operation Upside with Lenny, a plan Beatrice has been working on all summer.
Everything changes for Beatrice when Lenny walks into the first day of third grade, not wearing her ninja suit, but pink! With sparkles, no less! And Lenny’s made a new friend! Is Operation Upside doomed for failure before it even begins?
This is such a heartwarming story. You feel better about yourself and the world after you finish reading it. Beatrice teaches us the importance of being yourself. She learns that you can turn a confusing day into a good one if you look at it the right way and that there are always things you can do to make a bad day better.
There are plenty of adorable illustrations that add to the story and bring Beatrice’s upside down thinking to life. The quirkiness of the illustrations remind me of Quentin Blake’s illustrations in Roald Dahl’s children’s books.
Thank you so much to NetGalley and Hachette Children’s Books, Australia for the opportunity to read this book. Beatrice is funny and spunky, and is soon to make friends with young girls all over the world. She will resonate with so many girls that feel different and she’ll teach them that their differences are special and deserve to be celebrated. I can’t wait until the second Beatrice Zinker book is released!
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 5 out of 5.
Once Upon a Blurb
Beatrice does her best thinking upside down.
Hanging from trees by her knees, doing handstands . . . for Beatrice Zinker, upside down works every time. She was definitely upside down when she and her best friend, Lenny, agreed to wear matching ninja suits on the first day of third grade. But when Beatrice shows up at school dressed in black, Lenny arrives with a cool new outfit and a cool new friend. Even worse, she seems to have forgotten all about the top-secret operation they planned!
Can Beatrice use her topsy-turvy way of thinking to save the mission, mend their friendship, and flip things sunny-side up?
I love Curious McCarthy, the book and the person! I adored Curious before I read a word of this book. From the first glance of her on the cover I knew she was going to be my kind of girl.
Curie (Curious) McCarthy was named after Marie Curie, a famous scientist. She is the middle child in a family with seven children! She has three older sisters (Charlotte, Emily and Anne) and three younger brothers (John Glenn, Benjamin and Edison). Her mother is a full time English professor and her father, a retired engineer, is now a stay at home Dad.
Curious just started fourth grade at a new school, not because her family moved, but because the school district decided to change the boundary lines. All of her friends still attend her previous school. Curious has been a scientist for 6 days, 19 hours and 13 minutes.
In this book we go to school with Curious, we visit the school library and the principal’s office, attend Secret Sister Society (SSS) meetings and sit in on some entertaining dinners. Along the way Curious is learning how to be a scientist by making hypotheses, conducting experiments, and coming to conclusions, while also learning about chain reactions and germs.
Other than Curious’ family we get to know her teacher (Mrs Stickler), her school librarian (Mr Grumpus), her school principal (Mr Cornforth), Aunt Dolly, a likely friend (Lin Tran), and an unlikely friend (Robin Finch).
The way this book was written it felt like Curious was sitting across from you telling you her story. I would have loved this book as a child and would have wanted to be Curious’ friend. I love it just as much as a grown up.
All of the McCarthy kids had distinct and interesting personalities, and from about the middle of the book I could tell which one was speaking just by what they said. Theirs is a lovely family that I want to know more about.
I loved the illustrations and found it particularly helpful to be introduced to all of the characters in this book through the two pages of pictures and descriptions before the story started. In the beginning of the book when I didn’t know who was who yet I could quickly flip back to these pages to remind myself which McCarthy we were hearing about.
I found the science in this book wonderful. It was explained in an age appropriate way and it all sounded like so much fun that I can imagine a whole pile of girls deciding they’re going to be scientists when they grow up after reading this book. I learned some fun facts myself from reading but because it was so much fun it didn’t feel like the drudgery that’s usually associated with learning.
I loved the coloured footnotes. In the back of the book there were some fun extras, including a glossary that explained what the more difficult words in the book meant and how to say them, and a recipe for Oobleck!
Thank you so much to NetGalley and Capstone for the opportunity to read this book. Young girls are going to love this book and their parents are going to love reading this to their girls (or themselves). I enjoyed this book so much I’m going to be purchasing the other three books in the series.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 5 out of 5.
Once Upon a Blurb
Curious McCarthy, named after the famous scientist Marie Curie, has decided to become a scientist herself. Her first hypothesis: That her mischievous younger brother will get noticed before her proper oldest sister, Charlotte. Using footnotes filled with funny observations, Curious invites readers to read her observations about her first days at a new school with an old-fashioned teacher and her entertaining evenings at home with her six brothers and sisters. A fun experiment brings the science to life and a glossary and discussion and writing prompts provide reader support.
This is an adorable gift book. Whether you’re buying it for yourself or someone else, you can’t help smiling at the innate cuteness of Huff and Puff, the two models in Hedgehog Wisdom. Accompanied by pick me ups to bring you out of a dark day or to remind you of the good in your life, you’ll fall in love with these spiky fluffballs.
Thank you very much to NetGalley and Quarto Publishing Group – Rock Point for the opportunity to read this book.
⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 3 out of 5.
Once Upon a Blurb
Smile
Let’s get quilly! Based on the popular Huffy Hedgehogs Instagram, Hedgehog Wisdom is filled with pictures of the most adorable prickly pets as they dress up, chow down, and make you laugh out loud, all while promoting positive thinking and good vibes. Though spiny, huffy, and timid, these little pincushion creatures are too sweet for words, and will win your heart in no time!
Schizanthus Nerd 