LyricPop Picture Books Turn Songs Into Kids’ Stories

We’ve had kids’ books based on movie and TV shows. Now, in the next step for parents wanting to keep their pop culture front and center in their kids’ lives, Akashic Books has launched the LyricPop line of children’s picture books. The lyrics of classic pop songs — including Fleetwood Mac’s “Don’t Stop“, the Beach Boys’ “Good Vibrations“, Otis Redding’s “Respect“, The Go-gos’ “We Got the Beat“, and (most amusingly to me) Dee Snider’s “We’re Not Gonna Take It” — […]

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The Black Mage

St. Ivory Academy, a magical boarding school run by Mr. Lynch, has accepted its first Black student as a recipient of a minority scholarship. His name is Tom Token, his familiar is a crow named Jim, and you may have already gathered from the names that this is not a subtle story. But who says it should be? As written by Daniel Barnes and illustrated by D.J. Kirkland, the book opens with Harriet Tubman, Frederick Douglass, and John Henry in […]

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Bolivar Eats New York: A Discovery Adventure

The followup to the impressive Bolivar, about a dinosaur living incognito in New York City, takes a different approach. Instead of a story, Bolivar Eats New York: A Discovery Adventure is a puzzle picture book. Sybil thinks Bolivar should eat something other than corned beef sandwiches, so she makes him come with her to visit representative New York food institutions, including a kosher deli, the Coney Island Boardwalk, a dim sum restaurant, an Italian bakery, and, of course, a pizza […]

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The Unicorn Whisperer

What can I say about more Phoebe and Her Unicorn books other than the strip is still funny?! (I last recommended Unicorn Bowling last summer, and I was behind in reading them then.) The idea is simple — Phoebe is an oddball kid who has a real, live, magical unicorn for a friend. Her parents and a couple of her classmates know about Marigold (the unicorn). Their different perspectives make for all kinds of humorous moments, whether it’s Phoebe reacting […]

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Tala Ashe Doing Wizard World Virtual in January

Tala Ashe, who plays Zari (in different versions) on DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, will be featured in a Wizard World virtual event in January. The convention company has been arranging these online appearances as a way of making some kind of money in a year where people can’t gather. There’s a free live Q&A on Twitch (which I’ve never used), but there are also opportunities to pay for a private two-minute video chat or buy autographed pictures or purchase a […]

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Doctor Who Watch – Because I Needed Another Project

Thanks to encouragement from friends, I decided to create a Tumblr blog called Doctor Who Watch and rewatch Doctor Who. Yes, all of it. I’ll likely alternate between classic and modern, with no promises as to when there will be new posts. I’m starting with the 13th Doctor, Jodie Whittaker, though, in honor of the upcoming New Year’s Special. There has to be some use out of acquiring this many Doctor Who DVDs. I won’t be copying the content here, […]

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Is Sherlock a Superhero?

I found myself pondering this question, as one does on a slow holiday afternoon. The first part of the answer is to figure out how you define a superhero. I’ve done this previously. My definition of superhero is categorical, looking at whether a given character has a preponderance of the common characteristics associated with the genre. So let’s run those down, looking at both the original Arthur Conan Doyle stories as well as the character from the Sherlock TV show. […]

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A Trip to the Top of the Volcano With Mouse

Following up on A Trip to the Bottom of the World With Mouse, Frank Viva takes the chatty rodent to a different extreme area of the world in A Trip to the Top of the Volcano With Mouse. Mouse and the traveler climb a volcano in Italy, while Mouse spends most of the time asking when they can eat pizza. The landscape around the mountain contains a variety of crops, animals, and temperatures. The child-like mouse, by making lists and […]

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