Is it a graphic novel?
A picture book? A little of
both? Either way, it is one of our
favorites. This is actually the third
time my Kindergarten Kiddo has selected this Caldecott Winner to take home with
her.
The story chronicles the adventures of best friends James and
Eamon (who by the end of the book are referred to collectively as “Jamon”) and takes
place over one week of summer vacation spent with Eamon’s grandparents. Best Week Ever manages to be funny for both
grown-ups and kiddos, making it a perfect book to enjoy together. I applaud Frazee for managing to infuse just
enough tounge-in-cheek humor without being too snarky. Case in point (from page 4):
The book’s structure makes it an ideal read-together
book. More mature readers can tackle the
longer passages, and emerging readers will delight in reading the dialogue in
the speech bubbles. It provides an ideal
opportunity for readers to inject voice and inflection in their reading.
Bonus Points: if you can get the accompanying
CD, it is a FANTASTIC audio recording.
It’s a little more elaborate than most cd recordings that accompany
children’s books. There are multiple
readers: an adult and a child voice-over actor who read the grown-up and
children’s parts, respectively. Also,
there are a few (though not distracting) ambient tracks – sounds of waves,
seagulls, traffic, background music. What really sets it apart though is that
the story begins before the book does. The
frontispiece of the book includes comic-book-like snapshots that depict scenes
from the boys’ week at nature camp. These
are actually narrated in the recording.
Very cool!
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