I really like cryptids. They are a universal creation, from the Mongolian Death Worm to the Scottish born Loch Ness Monster to the Chupacabra of Mexico, every culture seems to have a mythical creature that some people believe is not mythical. And, because they are (probably?) mythical, authors and illustrators are free to give cryptids any kind of personality traits and back story they want. Finally, with Brittany R. Jacobs's new picture book, The Kraken's Rules for Making Friends, this fantastic cryptid is getting attention that unicorns, Big Foot and the yeti have been monopolizing.
Jacobs has a great take on the trouble with being a kraken, most notably the challenge of making friends. When you are a giant squid, this just doesn't come easily. The kraken tries to be more approachable by knitting a koi fish costume that doesn't fool anyone.
The kraken seeks out advice from the great white shark who, oddly enough, seems to be a pro at making friends. The kraken follows all of the shark's rules, but still no joy. Finally, the kraken realizes that there is one fellow who he can bond with, and a chum is made.
Jacobs's illustrations are cinematic and cartoonish at the same time, which makes for a very animated story. Her palette is limited but lovely. Best of all, Jacobs manages to make a giant squid cute and even cuddly and very expressive. I can't wait to see what cryptid or creature Jacobs takes on next!
Soure: Review Copy
It's here! Book 3 in Kevin Sherry's superbly silly series of books featuring all your favorite cryptids is here! Following in the footsteps of Monsters on the Run and Meet the Bigfeet, Blizz Richards and the gang go under the sea The Yeti Files: Attack of the Kraken.
But, before heading to Atlantis, Alex the Elf and Gunthar the goblin are getting up to no good, out of eyesight from Blizz. Blizz thinks the two are getting along nicely in their igloo, but really, the devious duo are off tending to Gunthar's new pet whose name begins with "pt."
As Blizz gets the cryptosub ready to head out, he explains to Alex, Gunthar and Frank, the arctic fox who always seems to know what's really going on, all about the hidden city of Atlantis and the merfolk who live there. He also reminds the gang and readers how they received an urgent alert from the merfolk at the end of The Yeti Files #2, of Monsters on the Run. In Atlantis, they crew are greeted by the Mayor, Julius Blacksand, who has been making big additions to the city with the help of some powerful, precious, rare crystals mined nearby. But, a determined megafan of Blizz's named Coral tells him that the mayor isn't all he seems to be and that his continued mining of crystals is threatening the health of the ocean they live in - and the mysterious Kraken. Can Blizz and the gang prove that this is true and stop Julius Blacksand? And just who is Emily Airwalker and where is she? While I always adore the humor in Sherry's books, he weaves some very pertinent themes of conservation and environmental awareness into Attack of the Kraken that I appreciated.
The Yeti Files Books 1 & 2:
In 2014 I reviewed the stand out graphic novel Lowriders in Space written by author, artist and librarian Cathy Camper and illustrated by Raúl the Third. I didn't think it was possible, but I love the follow up, Lowriders to the Center of the Earth, even more than the first book! While the ingenuity of the characters, the cars, and of course, space travel were big draws in the first book, the second book manages to pack in even more fantastic features that I know the students in my school will love. Camper ups the usage of Spanish vocabulary in Lowriders to the Center of the Earth, including a coyote who puns in Spanish, and weaves characters and themes from Atzec mythology and Mexican folklore into this fast paced, action packed graphic novel with even more of the intensely detailed, superb illustrations by Raúl the Third.
Lowriders to the Center of the Earth starts with Lupe, a master mechanic and "an impala extraordinaire," Flappy, an octopus who wears a deer stalker and often travels in a jumbo popcorn bucket, and Elirio, painter of cars who has a "beak that was as steady as a surgeon's hand, his skill in detailing cars unparalleled, heading out to find Genie, their beloved missing cat. Footprints lead them out of town and into a giant cornfield where their odyssey beings.
It seems that Mictlantecuhtli, which I know is pronounced mick-lan-te-COOT-lee, thanks to the "What Does it Mean / ¿Que Significa?" back matter which also includes definitions of the geological terms used in the text, (but do know that these translations also appear in the story itself, at the bottom of the page) has taken Genie to his raucous underworld lair, which can be reached by way of a volcano. Straightaway, they hear a crying, wailing sound and discover a beautiful, blue weeping cat woman looking for her babies. La Lllorona takes a liking to Flappy and, while her crying can be a bit much, she does prove good to have along for the ride.
The gang have to face Mic's skeleton crew, the Wind of Knives, the challenge of transporting a bucket of water to the center of the earth and back and a wrestling match with lots of wrestling terms and a surprise from little Genie (spoiler!! their pet is really Tepeyollotl, the Aztec jaguar god who is Lord of the Animals) before they can reclaim their pet and return to the surface of the earth. There are so many more details in Lowriders to the Center of the Earth that I haven't even mentioned. I'll leave you with my favorite cameo appearance in the underworld comes when the gang pulls up to a torta shop where they see a familiar face. Perched behind the wheel of a monster truck with massive wheels, looking like a roadie for Mötley Crüe, his arm around a doe-eyed goat and a bottle of sangre de cabra in his hand is . . . the Chupacabra!
Source: Review Copy
Monster & Son, written by David LaRochelle and marvelously illustrated by Joey Chou, is a treat to read. LaRochelle's sweet rhyming text suggests the rowdy playfulness between father and son while Chou's illustrations evoke the midcentury work of Mary Blair, in influential artist with Walt Disney who left her imprint on everything from movies like Alice in Wonderland and Peter Pan to the character designs for the Disneyland ride, It's a Small World. Together, a parade of movie-monster father and son cryptids cavort across the pages of Monster & Son. Monster & Son begins, "You woke me with a monstrous roar, my brave and fearless son." The San Francisco Bay becomes the playground for a frolicking little monster plucking busses and cars off the Golden Gate Bridge. A day filled with "rough and rowdy fun" unfolds as fathers and sons, from Loch Ness Monsters to Frankensteins, Swamp Creatures, Yetis, Sasquatches, dragons, werewolves, mummys and more have fun together. LaRochelle's rhymes are perfectly pitched and, while he uses words that work with the monster theme, they are perfectly suited to human fathers and sons.
Monster & Son nears and end with King Kong cuddling his yawning son, helicopter and shrieking pilot in his hand, saying, "Your fearsome yawns won't frighten me. I'll hug you strong and tight." Dracula kisses his son goodnight, ending with these words, "then gently tuck you into bed while whispering . . . good night."
Monster & Son makes for a perfect Father's Day or baby shower gift that will be read over and over.
Source: Review Copy
Last year I gleefully reviewed The Yeti Files: Meet the Bigfeet by Kevin Sherry. I am so thrilled to be reviewing Monsters on the Run, the second book in what I hope is a long running series about all kinds of cryptids!
Besides the fact that The Yeti Files: Meet the Bigfeet taught me the word "cryptid," which I work into conversations whenever I can now, I adore this book for its humor,
The Abominables is a posthumous publication from Eva Ibbotson with illustrations by the wonderful Fiona Robinson. Ibbotson is best known for the magical creature filled books she herself called "romps." While her works always have a rich vein of loving kindness running throughout, Ibbotson had a gift for creating kooky characters with bad ideas and and bad intentions as well as those with
Bigfoot is Missing!
J. Patrick Lewis and Kenn Nesbitt (Children’s Poet Laureates, past and present)
Illustrated by MinaLima (Miraphora Mina & Eduardo Lima)
Chronicle Books 4/1/2015
978-1-4521-1895-6
40 pages Ages 7+
“What beast stalks the dim northern forests?
What horror tunnels under the sands of the desert?
What monster lies in wait beneath murky lake water?
“Bigfoot, the Mongolian Death Worm, the Loch Ness Monster—these and many more creatures lurk within these pages. Are they animals yet discovered? Are they figments of imagination? Only eerie whispers and sinister rumors give us hints at the truth.
“Children’s Poet Laureate J. Patrick Lewis (2011-2013) and Children’s Poet Laureate Kenn Nesbitt (2013-2015) team up to offer a tour of the creatures of shadowy myth and fearsome legend—the enticing, the humorous, and the strange.”
Review
“CRYPTOZOOLOGY is the study of hidden animals, or those whose real existence has not yet been proven.”
Have you ever wondered about Bigfoot, the Loch Ness Monster, or any other cryptid? If so, then this interesting picture book is for you, regardless of age. Is this nonfiction or fiction? That will depend on whether you believe any of these extremely unusual creatures are real, or from the imagination.
I do love the layout of the book. Reading feels like a world tour of the odd. You must look everywhere to find the poems: missing posters, park signs, classified ads, and on plastic bottles stuck in the mud of a swamp. Immediately, you will realize an ingenious poet—uh, two ingenious poets—wrote Bigfoot is Missing .
Kids will enjoy this book, especially if they like the weird and unusual. The illustrations are colorful renderings of the cryptid’s home, be it park, ocean, or roaming the United States. Despite the subject matter, not a single scary page or poem exists in this kid-friendly picture book. Bigfoot is Missing is a great choice for April Poetry Month. For those unsure what to believe, the authors included a short descriptive history of each creature. Chronicle Books offers a teacher’s guide, in line with several common core areas.*
BIGFOOT IS MISSING. Text copyright © 2015 by J. Patrick Lewis and Kenn Nesbitt. Illustrations copyright (2015) by MinaLima. Reproduced by permission of the publisher, Chronicle Books, San Francisco, CA.
Purchase Bigfoot is Missing at Amazon—B&N—Book Depository—Chronicle Books.
Learn more about Bigfoot is Missing HERE. (check it out!)
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Meet the former Children’s Poet Laureate, J. Patrick Lewis, at his website: http://www.jpatricklewis.com/
Meet the current Children’s Poet Laureate, Kenn Nesbitt, at his website: http://www.poetry4kids.com/
Meet the illustrators, MinaLima, at their website: http://www.minalima.com/
Find more picture books that are wonderful at the Chronicle Books website: http://www.chroniclebooks.com/
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*“Correlates to Common Core Speaking and Listening Standards: Comprehension and Collaboration, 2-5.2; Presentation of Knowledge and Ideas, 2-5.4, 2-5.5; Reading Standards for Literature: Integration of Knowledge and Ideas, 2-5.7” (from Chronicle Books Poetry Picture Books teacher’s guide)
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Copyright © 2015 by Sue Morris/Kid Lit Reviews
Filed under:
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Top 10 of 2015 Tagged:
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I was contemplating cryptids this week after having picked up the first two books is
Roland Smith's terrific
Cryptid Hunters series published by Hyperion and Scholastic: The series features the adventures of thirteen-year-old twins Marty and Grace and their cryptid-hunting uncle. In the first book, they're off to Africa to save the sauropod-shaped
mokele-mbembe from facing a new extinction. In the second, they're on a ship off the coast of New Zealand to find a giant squid. Two more books are forthcoming...
Anyway, it got me thinking. As a young reader, in addition to
dinosaurs, one of the things that I was absolutely fascinated by was crytpids (although the word didn't actually exist back then):
Bigfoot,
Yeti, the
Loch Ness Monster,
mokele-mbembe, and the like. Just the idea that there were these creatures that could exist below the radar in our (apparently) very advanced world fascinated me. And how cool would it have been to have come face to face with one or any of these? Of course, in 1938, that very thing happened with the discovery of live
coelacanths, thought to have gone extinct at the time of the dinosaurs...
The difference, of course, between dinosaurs and (most) cryptids is that the former were real, but they still tap into that same craving to see them
live and that same wonder about what would happen if we encountered them today. In the flesh. And this fascination has been ongoing since very nearly the dawn of the dinosaurs themselves.
The earliest life-sized sculptures were the "Crystal Palace dinosaurs" of
Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins, built in the early 1850's, not long after Richard Owen coined the term "dinosaur." Nowadays, of course, just about every natural history museum has skeletal and/or static or
animatronic recreations.
Interesting post, Greg.