FIRST Wild Card Tour: Jackson Jones: The Tale of a Boy, an Elf, and a Very Stinky Fish

It is time for a FIRST Wild Card Tour book review! If you wish to join the FIRST blog alliance, just click the button. We are a group of reviewers who tour Christian books. A Wild Card post includes a brief bio of the author and a full chapter from each book toured. The reason it is called a FIRST Wild Card Tour is that you never know if the book will be fiction, non~fiction, for young, or for old...or for somewhere in between! Enjoy your free peek into the book!

You never know when I might play a wild card on you!

Today's Wild Card author is:

Jenn Kelly

illustrated by:

Ariane Elsammak

and the book:

Jackson Jones: The Tale of a Boy, an Elf, and a Very Stinky Fish

Zonderkidz (August 6, 2010)

***Special thanks to Pam Mettler of Zonderkidz for sending me a review copy.***

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Jenn Kelly lives in Ottawa, Canada, but her heart lives in Paris. Or Hawaii. She hasn’t decided yet. She is an undercover garden guru, painter, and chef, which has absolute nothing to do with this book. She won a writing award in grade 4, failed English Lit in university, spent many years writing bad poetry, and then decided to write a book. This is it. She is married to her best friend, Danny, and is mom to a five-year-old boy and a dog who worries too much. She embraces the ridiculousness and disorganization of life.


Visit the author's website.

Ari has worked as a freelance illustrator for a variety of projects, mostly in children’s media. Her specialty is character design and she most enjoys illustrating humorous and wacky predicaments.

She studied editorial and children’s book illustration at the School of Visual Arts in New York City and the DuCret School of Art in New Jersey. She uses a variety of media to create my images both traditional and digital.


Visit the illustrator's website.

Product Details:

List Price: $12.99
Reading level: Ages 9-12
Hardcover: 272 pages
Publisher: Zonderkidz (August 6, 2010)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0310720796
ISBN-13: 978-0310720799

PLEASE CLICK THE BROWSE INSIDE BUTTON TO VIEW THE FIRST CHAPTER:

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REVIEW:
This is a whimsical, funny children’s book (for ages 9-12 and any young-at-heart, fun-loving people). It takes you along on Jackson’s adventure in his Great-Aunt Harriett’s hair. Yes, it is wacky. It probably breaks oodles of grammar/writing rules. But it works. The author has a unique style of talking directly to the reader. So you’re keenly aware that you’re listening to someone telling you a story (as opposed to watching the action unfold on your own). She feels free to interrupt whenever and ask questions for you or address questions she thinks you might be having. (How did she know I was reading in bed at night?!?) A very cute/funny touch is the titles of the chapters and how weird some of the chapters are. I think she may have set a world record for the shortest chapter.

It’s...different. And it’s nice. (And I happen to think her writing style is temporarily rubbing off on me so if you don’t like the way this review is formatted or written...blame the book :).)

The author used the word “g-o-s-h” once. I don’t like any form of using God’s name in vain so that was somewhat disappointing.

But, besides that, this is a book that is easy to recommend because it is clean and silly. Who doesn’t need some silliness in their life now and then :)?

Thankful Thursday #5

 

This week...
1. I am thankful that my sons have a thankful heart/attitude.  They appreciated the games, gifts, cards, cakes, ice cream, other treats, their relatives, family, and friends who came to their birthday party.  They remembered to thank everyone :).

2. I am thankful for my husband being the best dad/role model (besides Jesus) for our children.  He enjoys spending time (quality and quantity) with the kids.  The boys love playing sports with Dad and learning from Dad how to fix things, how to make fire, and other manly stuff; our daughter loves talking with Dad about God, the Bible, ministries, politics, world events, etc. and watching movies with Dad.

3. I am thankful for all the hugs and kisses from my husband and kids.  They are affectionate and I love that :).

4. I am thankful for our relatives and the relationship we have with them.  I'm glad that they always come to the kids' birthday parties and get along very well even though some of them were divorced and remarried.

5. I am thankful for all seasons. Each season displays God's wonders. If you would like to see the pictures I took around our property throughout four seasons, please click here.

Corn Roast Festival

 

The 45th Annual Corn Roast Festival in Forest Grove, Oregon will take place this Saturday.  We used to live in FG and attend the festival every year.  We now live in a different city but still plan to attend it tomorrow.  The pictures above were taken at the festival in 2005.  My sons looked so young here; it's hard to believe that they'll turn 11 and 8 next month.

The highlight for the kids besides enjoying the delicious fresh-roasted corn on the cob, was the Reptile Man.  His show was always educational, exciting, and entertaining.  In the second picture, the kids had the opportunity to touch a Burmese Python.  My boys hesitated at first but did touch it :).  I did, too.  It felt smooth and rubbery, not slimy at all.  Burmese Pythons can grow up to 23 feet long or more and weigh up to 200 lbs.  The female coil herself around her eggs (up to 100). God gave her the ability to raise her body temperature by making her muscles tremble. The Burmese Python is the only snake who is able to do this (a snake's temperature is usually lower than ours; reptiles are cold-blooded) and the increased body heat helps keep the eggs warm enough to develop properly. Our Creator made all kinds of cool animals, including some very exotic reptiles.

Previous Friday Photo Flashback:
- A Taste of Thailand
- I Could Never Promise You
- In Father's Hands
- Thai Version of Wipe Out
- My Graduation Day in Thailand