Tag Archives: humor

Night of the Zombie Zookeeper

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Desmond and his friend, Andres, have great plans for their class field trip to the zoo. Desmond has mapped out the best places to go and when they should be there. Their plans are derailed, though, when they discover a zookeeper that is a zombie. How do they know that he’s a zombie? His greenish skin is a big clue. But, as they follow him (and not their planned route), they see him in the seal tank cleaning the windows without an air tank! Then, he goes into the lion enclosure and feeds the lions by hand. There’s more evidence, but it’s clear already that they have a zombie on their hands. And, why do they care? Desmond and Andres are the Ghost Patrol and they need answers.

They locate a more normal looking zookeeper and tell her about her zombie co-worker. She seems unusually unconcerned about it and sends them away to the picnic area with their class. But, the Ghost Patrol is undeterred. They have a few more crazy encounters with the zombie. He saves Andres from a nasty peacock and his friends, the buffalo and then accidentally tosses slimy animal food all over Andres before saving him from the hungry animals that want to lick all their food off him. Finally, Peggy (the normal zookeeper they spoke with earlier) explains that she knows that “Zoombie” the zookeeper is a zombie. Apparently, zombies make the best zookeepers, because they can clean underwater without air and aren’t grossed out by the nasty food or animal waste they have to clean up. And, the animals love them!

So, Desmond and Andres solve the mystery of the zombie zookeeper and make a new friend in the process. Now, whenever they go to the zoo, they look up Zoombie and he makes sure they have a great time with the animals.

This fun, slightly creepy book will be a hit with the younger crowd. Black and white illustrations add to the mood and the text is accessible. The characters are diverse and likable and the first person narrative (Andre) makes the reader feel as if he is a pal wandering around and chasing zombies with the Ghost Patrol. Recommended.

Mystery Club

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This graphic novel has two stories set in London. Four kids (Tyler, Zoey, Kyle and Ashley) are part of the Mystery Club and are dedicated to solving mysteries involving monsters. In Wild Werewolves, the group solves the sudden appearance of numerous werewolves that roam the city. Mummy Mischief involves a lovelorn mummy roaming the subways. Both stories have an enemy named Harnak that is thwarted by the kids each time.

The stories are light and flow smoothly. The colors are bright and and the illustrations are not overdone. This is a fun, “safe” graphic novel for younger readers and won’t shock anyone. The reading level is set at a 2.8 and interest level at 3-6. But, younger students will certainly understand and enjoy it and your hi-lo readers will appreciate it.

Judy Moody Gets Famous!

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Third grader Judy Moody has many moods and the one we read about here is jealousy. She is jealous of her classmate, Jessica Finch, who gets her picture on the front page of the newspaper for winning the spelling bee. Judy wants that same fame so badly that she will do anything to achieve it. As fans of Judy Moody know, this might backfire and Judy may well become rather infamous instead! Her brother, Stink, appears in this book as well. So, fans of his series may enjoy reading about Stink’s adventures with his sister as well.

Illustrations by Peter H. Reynolds are crisp and realistic, adding to the story as pictures the size of thumbnails to two page spreads. They move the story along nicely and give it a clean, fresh look. The cover art is bright and will attract young readers that might not have found the previous editions as appealing. Recommended.

What is Inside This Box?

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Monkey has a box and tells his friend, Cake, that there is a cat inside. This cat is magic, though. If the box is opened, he disappears! Cake questions this logic and he and Monkey have a spirited discussion about it. Cake is sure that there is no cat in the box, because there is a magic dinosaur in the box. And, this dinosaur disappears when the box is opened. The two friends eventually determine that they will never really know and walk away toward some pie. After they leave, a cat peeks out of the box and rides away on a dinosaur’s back.

This cute nod to Schrodeinger’s cat has simple illustrations on uncluttered pages, reminiscent of Mo Willem’s Elephant & Piggie. The text is dialogue and each character has a different color of speech bubble, making it easy for the reader to determine who is speaking at any given time. The friendship is real and they can agree to disagree in an amicable fashion, which is a lesson in itself. Early readers will enjoy the story and the characters and wonder themselves about the contents of the box!

The Very Impatient Caterpillar

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So, this caterpillar is hanging out with his buddies and notices that they are all heading up a tree. When he asks what they are doing, he is absurdly surprised to hear about something called metamorphosis. Apparently, he is the only caterpillar that doesn’t know about this crazy stuff and he hurries to catch up to his friends. He does okay with the chrysalis-making. But, waiting to metamorphose is soooooo boring and takes sooooo long! He’s positive that he is done and emerges to discover that he is only half way there (ewww – not only does he look funny, he can’t fly at all!). So, he tries again and this time manages to stay in his chrysalis the required two weeks’ time. It is somewhat tortuous (as depicted in a hilarious two page spread), but he finally emerges as a fully developed butterfly vowing to be more patient. But, what is this? His friends are migrating? He joins the journey and says “Are we there yet?”.

Computer generated illustrations lend a comic touch to the story as we watch a young caterpillar dealing with the dreadfully slow process of metamorphosis. This engaging book with its quirky character will delight every budding entomologist as well as those that can sympathize with a small caterpillar’s impatience. Highly recommended!

Snail & Worm: All Day

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Snail and Worm star in three lovely stories in this sweet picture book for early readers. In Best Day Ever, Snail defines a “good day” very differently. His day didn’t go too well, but others had wonderful experiences and he was happy for them; hence, the best day ever! The Spooky Cave is a story about a dragon…er, turtle, that scares Snail enough to cause him to ‘run’ away even though Worm tries to tell Snail that the animal is really a turtle. And, the third story is A Bedtime Story that highlights the sweet relationship of these two friends. The pen and watercolor illustrations lend themselves to the simple story line quite well. Characters’ emotions are displayed and add to the humor of the book.

Give this book to readers who enjoy friendship stories like Elephant and Piggie or Frog and Toad. Snail & Worm have the same sweet, loyal friendship and will be a welcome addition to your collection.

Fear the Bunny

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A tiger happens upon a group of woodland animals listening to the hedgehog reading a book about scary bunnies. That doesn’t sit well with the tiger. So, he tries to explain to them that HE is much more fierce than bunnies. What will they do – cute him to death? He scoffs until a band of headlamp wearing bunnies begin to chase him and the story ends with the tiger reading a story about scary bunnies to a group of animals, including other tigers!

Cartoon-like illustrations accompany a cute story that vaguely references the poem “The Tyger” by William Blake, which is printed at the end of the book. Students will enjoy this slightly scary and cute story, although they might not appreciate its connection to the poem.

Not Your Nest!

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What a fun book! Wait, I should tell you about it first, shouldn’t I? Well, this story is about an industrious, little yellow bird in the African Savanna and his adventures in building a nest. This shouldn’t be a difficult endeavor. But, every time he is returns to his newly completed nest, he is greeted by an animal visitor that plans to claim it as his own. So, he builds another nest and the same thing happens. Nest after nest is claimed by animal after animal (gazelle, gorilla, zebra and so forth), until the poor little bird can take it no longer. He enlists the aid of a wildebeest and in one big “BAM” knocks the animals and nests out of the tree. He sadly looks at his ruined nests and the other animals seem to finally realize the error of their ways. They work diligently to build a huge nest in the tree and gently place the little bird into it. He watches them walk a way dejectedly and shouts “Wait!”, invites them to join him and they gladly do so. The story could end here, but the industrious little bird finishes the story by finishing the project he started a the beginning…building his own nest, which is next to his new animal friends.

This story is brimming with fun and comic wit. While the text is spare, it and the illustrations do a fantastic job of giving us a sense of the animals’ attitudes and feelings. The bird’s growing frustration and fatigue as he tries over and over to just build a nest for himself is perfectly pictured in his expressions and words. The zebra is a little bit pompous and the elephant is a little apologetic. And, we can’t help but be satisfied at the end when the bird finishes what he starts and get the nest he really wanted.

Buy this book and wait for the giggles as you read it out loud to your students. It’s that good!!

I Just Ate My Friend

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Yes, he just ate his friend. So, the not-very-scary monster (even though he ate his friend) looks for a new one. Unfortunately, he’s either too big, too small, too scary, et cetera, et cetera, for all the monsters he encounters. Just when he’s about to give up, a lovely teal monster agrees to be his friend and…eats him! Readers will enjoy this darkly humorous story which is simply told and not very scary. It might lead to a wonderful discussion about how we really should treat our friends. Not eating them would be the first thing, right?

Kiwi Cannot Reach!

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Kiwi has a problem – he wants to pull the rope and he cannot reach it! Will the reader help? This interactive beginning reader is written with cartoon-like illustrations and word bubbles. The sentences are short and the words are accessible, while still moving the story along. Readers who enjoy Elephant & Piggie will giggle along with this fun story about an engaging, but helpless, little kiwi.