Alan Katz

Funnyman Katz teams up with illustrator Chris Robertson on a new picture book that will have both parents and children giggling.

Alligator Mike and his dad imagine what it would be like if they didn't have each other. Mike's dad could have a sports car! Mike could stay up all night and eat all the candy he wanted! Of course, as his dad points out, he wouldn't have to brush his teeth either - because he wouldn't have any. With each wacky idea, Mike's dad reassures him that he'd rather have him show more and they end up finding something they can both do together: dance like crazy! Now they just have to convince Mom that she'd rather have both of them than a nice, quiet house... or a custom-built sports car!

Robertson's art is full of toothy grins (except for the imagined toothlessness of endless candy eating of course) and silly surprises. My favorite was the water buffalo butler, with appropriate posters on the wall. Shades of blue and green predominate, keeping the theme of alligators throughout the book. There are lots of small jokes that kids will appreciate, like Mike playing "Swamp Craft" video games and having "Poke Gator" posters on his wall. In some ways the art is reminiscient of the classic Lyle books by Bernard Waber, with the upright alligators and there are several retro touches, like a stereo an LPs spread across the floor which kids may or may not pick up on.

Verdict: A funny and sweet book, a nice additional choice for storytimes featuring family or one-on-one reading with a child. The reassuring text doesn't stray into the overly sentimental and the wacky art will inspire kids to try their hand at making up their own silly options for what their life might be like in different circumstances. I would know your audience though; if you have a lot of kids with absent fathers it would be better paired with other titles showing a variety of families.

ISBN: 9781416978794; Published 2018 by Simon & Schuster; E-ARC provided by illustrator; Purchased for the library show less

This story was CRAZY.
This story was OBNOXIOUS.
This story was NAUSEATING, SMELLY, and STRANGE.
This story was also….A BLAST!

Think about it. Depending on where you’re from, the term fairies DOES in fact conjure up little sprightly creatures of lore that are either mischievous, or angelic, flying bout their day like it was nobodies business. These fairies? Yeah, not so much because while the imagined deal in light, fluffy, and magical things, they deal in the discarded, unwanted, or show more underappreciated things. Have a friend that’s lax on their flatulence? The Fart Fairy is your man! Think that kid across the way that digs for green gold is ludicrous? Not when it comes to the Snot Fairy and his trade! Or what about that other friend that tends to leave their less than laundered undergarments out and about when you really wish they’d simply dump them in the wash bin and be done with them? Yeah, there’s a fairy for that too! In fact, there’s one for pretty much any gross, gruesome, or less-than-ordinary endeavor, so before you discount the things that seem out there or strange to you and yours, consider the others that might revel in that oddness like a duck to water, a monkey to a tree, or a dung beetle to...well, you get the picture.

A strange and out there story, it’s true, but filled with imagination, creativity, and laughs to boot both in the telling and the imagery. show less

*I received a free copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.*

Awesome Achievers in Technology is a collection of short biopics about inventors who are often overlooked: people who invented the windshield wiper, or Scotchguard. I really enjoyed learning about these people, the things they accomplished, and how their inventions changed society. It’s interesting and I think kids would find it interesting too. The chapters are packed with show more information–short enough not to feel as though it dragged, but long enough to include everything you need to know. This would be a great starting off book for kids interested in researching more about a particular inventor or invention.

While the content about the inventors themselves was fantastic, it gets super goofy at the end of each chapter, which I did not enjoy. Katz makes jokes that don’t make sense, includes nonsensical stories or activities that vaguely relate to the subject. MAYBE a kid would enjoy this (that’s a big maybe), but I felt that was way too over-the-top and didn’t come across as genuinely funny. Without those, though, the book is fantastic.

Also posted on Purple People Readers. show less

There are several books about the tooth fairy for small children.

Most of these books seek to reassure kids in some way with the prospect of getting rewards for losing their teeth. Most of them feature girly tooth fairies. Oh, some are more active than others, but (with the exception of the one in Andrew's Loose Tooth, another book I highly recommend) they're all clean and diligent, at least.

Ever occur to you that that's a bit boring? That maaaaaybe what the tooth fairy genre really needs is show more some gross, gross, grosser-than-gross potty humor? Some fart fairies, earwax fairies, booger fairies...?

Yeah, me either. And yet, that's what this book serves up, a bundle of unwashed flim-flammers trying to convince you to put all sorts of disgusting things under your pillow, things INSTEAD of teeth. They argue, they interrupt each other - and they drive the real tooth fairy up a wall. It's great fun, and any child who thinks they're too grown-up for the tooth fairy, or who likes gross-out stories (girls go through that phase too, of course) is SURE to love this book.

Just... uh... if you're using it as a read-aloud, you might not want to read it on a full stomach. Blech. show less