2018 books: The Avengers Storybook, The Baboon King, Supermoon

[thistlechaser]

The Avengers Storybook by "Marvel Book Group"
Traditional or self-published: Traditional
Rating: Disliked (Hated-Disliked-Okay-Liked-Loved)



I read YA books. I read MG books. But apparently I've found my limit on how young the target reader can be before I stop enjoying a book.

There was nothing wrong with these stories, other than the target reader was age 4-8 years old. Grade level 1-3, for US folks. Unsurprisingly the writing was way, way too simple, the stories too basic, and the writing filled with way too many exclamation points. I couldn't even stick with the stories long enough to see if they were original -- sadly everything was just too simple and basic for me to enjoy.

Stopped reading at 26%, but that was a lot of skimming.

The Baboon King by Anton Quintana
Traditional or self-published: Traditional
Rating: Okay (Hated-Disliked-Okay-Liked-Loved)



This was an odd book. I downloaded it because supposedly it was about an African boy who got turned into a baboon and was forced to learn to live with them -- a story that would be perfect for me! But by the 38% point that still hadn't happened, and I gave up on it.

The first third of the book wasn't bad. It was "slice of life"-ish, for a boy living in an African village. The writing was nice and interesting, very descriptive, but so little happened. It was just about the boy trying to fit in. If I had had nothing else to read, I'd have stuck with it, but my To Read pile is approaching 300, so I moved on.

Supermoon by H. A. Swain
Traditional or self-published: Traditional
Rating: Hated (Hated-Disliked-Okay-Liked-Loved)



Everything about this book annoyed me. Set on the moon (apparently all humans live in space now), a teenage boy was dealing with all the issues a kid in high school on Earth would. Bullies, mean girls, trying to fit in, etc. That wouldn't work for me, but add on top of that all their tech ended in -z. "thotz" for "thoughts" -- some sort of telepathic tech. Things like that. Stopped reading at 2%.

Partial book credits:
Point reached in these books: 26% + 38% +2% = 66%
Previous abandoned book total: 969%
New total: 1,035% (Ten books worth of unfinished books, yay!)

Currently reading: STARGATE UNIVERSE: Air. A novelization of a few of the SGU eps. Per other reviews, adds nothing new. Undecided if I'll keep reading or not -- it's been so long since I watched the show, perhaps I'll enjoy the book.

Comments

[orangerful.livejournal.com]

Don't discount all the picture books! I love Elephant and Piggie (anything Mo Willems really). But I think picture books can be like video games - the ones based on movies tend to be crap churned out by a marketing department. It is a rare unicorn that is actually a movie book AND well done.

Oh, Avengers: Shake to Assemble is adorable though. :)

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Maybe it was a picture book? On my Kindle it had no pictures, but that might have been a technology issue. Holy cow, looking a the sample pages on Amazon, that's completely different! It's like a mini-graphic novel!

Look at this!


A completely different experience!

[orangerful.livejournal.com]

LOL that is so freakin' disturbing for a children's book. But, yeah that would be heavily illustrated. We have it at the library. :)

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

I think I need a newer Kindle (at least if I wanted to continue to read picture books). Mine is probably too old.

Oh well! I'm glad people who read the physical copy will enjoy it!

[jeane nevarez (from livejournal.com)]

I've seen The Baboon King somewhere- probably I have it on an old want-to-read list. I kinda thought it was a bout a kid who ended up living with a baboon troup? I guess you didn't get far enough to find out.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Maybe that was it. I thought he was turned into one... But either way, I didn't get that far, yeah. It wasn't bad, just was a bit too slow for me. The cover is so pretty though!