The Next President: The Unexpected Beginnings and Unwritten Future of America's Presidents by Kate Messner and Adam Rex - ESSENTIAL

The Next President: The Unexpected Beginnings and Unwritten Future of America's Presidents by Kate Messner and Adam Rex, PICTURE BOOK, NON-FICTION Chronicle Books, 2020. $19. 9781452174884 

BUYING ADVISORY: EL (K-3) - ADVISABLE.  EL, MS - ESSENTIAL 

AUDIENCE APPEAL: AVERAGE 

There's only one President of the United States at a time, but how many future presidents are there? Starting with President Washington in 1789, Messner and Rex tell briefly about each of the future presidents alive at that time. Some worked alongside Washington putting together our new country, others were in school, and some were children. By 1841, when William Henry Harrison was inaugurated, there were 14 future presidents alive; in 1897, 9, and 1961 there were 10. It's 2020, who are the next 10? How many of them are children? 

I loved the concept of The Next President. Adam Rex's illustrations were great - loved seeing the presidents young. There were a few sections called "snapshots" which talked about presidential pets, Teddy Roosevelts adventures, and other "expanded trivia." Includes information on the requirements of becoming president, suggestions for further reading and an extensive bibliography.

Lisa Librarian

A Little Like Waking by Adam Rex - OPTIONAL

A Little Like Waking by Adam Rex, 400 pages. Roaring Brook Press (Macmillan Publishing), 2023. $21.

Language: R (32 swears, 0 “f”); Mature Content: PG; Violence: PG

BUYING ADVISORY: HS - OPTIONAL

AUDIENCE APPEAL: AVERAGE

Each day is as perfect as the last and the next—Zelda (18yo) even manages to somehow easily avoid a collision between her bike and a car. The weird part is when a boy she has never seen before shows up during the not-accident. Seeing him shifts Zelda’s view of her reality, as if everything is too realistic—or not realistic enough?

Rex’s narration style is unique because his setting is unique, and I can’t decide whether I like it or absolutely hate it. It works for the story, despite being random and unexplainable in ways that would normally annoy me as a reader. But the random elements as well as the occasional shifts from text to graphic novel pages tell the story well—and I even laughed a couple of times. Don’t let the unconventionality of it scare you away.

Zelda is depicted as white on the cover, and Langston is depicted as Black. The mature content rating is for partial nudity and kissing. The violence rating is for mild fantasy violence.

Reviewer: Carolina Herdegen

Moonday by Adam Rex-ADVISABLE

Rex, Adam, Moonday. Pgs. 32, Disney Hyperion, 2013. $16.99. PICTURE BOOK.

One night, the moon appears in a child’s backyard. Everything is wonderful until problems like high tides, darkness, weary townspeople, and dogs howling at their fence start occurring. How will the family fix the problem?

Beautiful, detailed illustrations. The story is simple and entertaining. A great read aloud for young children and their parents or teachers. PreK, EL (K-3). ADVISABLE. Reviewer: Kira M, Youth Services Librarian, WHI Public Library

Chu’s First Day of School by Neil Gaiman – OPTIONAL

Gaiman, Neil and illustrated by Rex, Adam  Chu’s First Day of School 32 pgs. HarperCollins, 2014. $17.99 Content: Language: G (0 swears); Mature Content: G Violence: G. PICTURE BOOK

Chu is starting school. He is nervous. When his new teachers goes around the room asking students for their names and what they do, Chu doesn’t know how to answer. Luckily he has a powerful sneeze that doesn’t fail to impress.

I actively look for ‘first day of school’ books, I put them out during the first few weeks of school and they are quite popular. This one starts out the same as many of the books, nervousness, which all students can relate to. I think that students would love to join in imaging how each different kind of animal would introduce themselves. But I found the ending very strange: Chu’s sneeze sort of ended his nervousness and made the class like him. As far as the artwork I am big Adam Rex fan, but I found myself waffling between thinking the artwork was adorable and just downright creepy.

EL (K-3) – OPTIONAL  Reviewer: Stephanie Elementary School Librarian & Author.

The True Meaning of Smek Day by Adam Rex - OPTIONAL

Rex, Adam The True Meaning of Smek Day, 423 p. Hyoerion, 2007.

Content, G

MS, HS - OPTIONAL

Gratuity has to do a report on what Smek Day means to her. She explains what happened and her own story of that terrible day. she even makes friends with some of the aliens and has to help save the world from mass destruction. When her mom is abducted, Gratuity sets out to find her. Can she save her before it's too late? 

I really liked this book and thought it was really well written. 

Student Reviewer: JG

How This Book Was Made by Mac Barnett - ESSENTIAL

Barnett, Mac How This Book Was Made, pictures by Adam Rex.  PICTURE BOOK.  Disney, 2016.  $18.

How does a book get made? The Barnett/Rex super team know all the answers!  In their incredible comedic way, they cover all of the aspects of the process.  I personally love the exchange between author and editor.  I am putting this in my library and will be showing it all of my Language Arts teachers just for that scene.

EL, MS, HS – ESSENTIAL.  Cindy, Library Teacher

The Legend of Rock Paper Scissors by Drew Daywalt - ESSENTIAL

Daywalt, Drew The Legend of Rock Paper Scissors, illustrated by Adam Rex. PICTURE BOOK. Balzer + Bray (HarperCollins), 2017. $17.99. 

This is the origin story of the oft-played game, Rock-Paper-Scissors. Rock hails from the realm of Kingdom of Backyard, Paper from the Empire of Mom's Home Office, and Scissors has spent her life in the Kitchen Realm. But none of them has found an opponent truly worthy to battle in their respective lands. It is only after they each venture forth on their own, seeking new challenges to face, that they find one another--and discover warriors with skills worthy of true battle. 

This book is, in a word, hilarious. I found myself literally laughing out loud, maybe in tears at some points, at the exploits of Rock, Paper and Scissors. The text is genius and Rex's illustrations are absolutely on point. Kids and adults alike will love this book. Aside from being brilliantly hilarious, it could lend itself to some fun writing prompts about origin stories of other stories, games, etc. 

EL (K-3), EL--ESSENTIAL Reviewer: TC

The Bear Who Wasn’t There by LeUyen Pham - ADVISABLE

Pham, LeUyen The Bear Who Wasn’t There.  PICTURE BOOK.  Roaring Brook (Macmillan), 2016. $17.

This is a book about a bear – or is it?  There doesn’t actually seem to be a bear anywhere in the whole book.  There is a duck, however, and a whole other large ensemble of characters.

SPOILER - 

Pham continues the journey right onto the inside of the dust jacket and back onto the cover of the book part.  I wonder of the publisher will make new dust jackets available as they inevitably get crinkled, torn, or dirty?  As  a librarian this is kind of a problem, because we usually tape the cover to the book so that we will be less likely to lose it.  In this case, however, it will cause problems as the reader tries to finish the book.  All that being said, the book is charming, but not as gripping as Mac Barnett and Adam Rex’s interactive picture books.

Pre-K, EL (K-3) – ADVISABLE.  Cindy, Library Teacher