At 5 Minutes for Books, we are proud to feature books across many genres for children and adults. This week is all about highlighting children’s books, but if you’re also interested in Sci Fi/Fantasy fiction, we have some great reviews.
Read the anchor post to find all of the Fall Festival of Children’s Books reviews and see how you can get involved and win the Grand Prize.
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“Oh, no…
Oh, man…
I knew it.
I never should have built a robot for the science fair.”
And so begins Oh No!: Or How My Science Project Destroyed the World, written by Mac Barnett, author of Billy Twitters and His Blue Whale Problem, and Dan Santat, illustrator of Rhea Perlman’s Otto Undercover books.
This is the type of book that takes a few reads and a critical eye to catch some of the nuances of the artwork. Done in Photoshop, it’s an homage to the monster movies of the 50’s and a lesson on why you should think through all of the possible outcomes of your science project. The text foreshadows the events, but the originality is in the pictures and how the book is printed, reminiscent of a film strip with black bars on the top and bottom and the text of the story in subtitles at the bottom. Speech balloons are used for the small amount of dialogue. You may not be able to see it from the image (it’s easier to see if you click through the link and view the image on Amazon), but the girl’s glasses reflect the robot in one lens and a giant toad in the other.
Of course all of that is the adult perspective on the book. My boys quickly caught on to the foreshadowing in the narrative and were able to follow the few pages without words and only illustrations to tell the story. My 7 year old, who seems to have only recently started reading without as much struggling, could read this to his brother with no help needed.
If you or your kids like robots, giant toads or just monster movie-type fun, then check out Oh No!: Or How My Science Project Destroyed the World. You won’t be disappointed.
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Nancy sometimes feels like she lives in a monster movie. She writes about her 2 boys and life in Colorado at Life With My Boys.
My daughter picked this from the library the other day, but I’m not sure that they really “got it” when we read it together. I, on the other hand, really loved it! I think it might be better for 5-6 year olds than almost-3 and 4 year olds! 🙂
Yeah, I don’t think my 3 year old got it either, but the 7 year old did. Of course the monster movie feel went right over his head.
This book looks right up our alley…we luv giant toads and frogs around here. lol
Thanks for the great review.
I’m going to have to put this one on my list for later – there are some books I just can’t wait for my son to grow into! (Not really, he’s already growing up too fast, but I do have a rather large collection in waiting…)
A book to add to my list for the boys.
I’m definitely putting this one on the list for my son in a couple of years. Sounds great!
THis sounds like a great read and will get the boys thinking about what could happen when they experiment in my kitchen!
Can’t believe those illustrations are done in Photoshop. What a clever idea!