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Category Archives: Scott Asher
NIV College Devotional Bible
The NIV Bible is for everyone and to prove it Zondervan will make a version for you. The version differences? You’ll get a different cover and a bunch of topically sorted comments/devotions. Do you enjoy the outdoors? Got you covered: NIV Outdoorsman Bible. Are you a young girl? NIV Faithgirlz! Bible. Teen? NIV Teen Study Bible. Teen guy? NIV Revolution: The Bible for Teen Guys. Married? NIV Couples’ Devotional Bible. What if someone in your family is in the military? Even that: NIV New Testament – Military Family (with Psalms). And a million more.
NIV College Devotional Bible
Zondervan
February 2013
I’m not against the Bible being printed as many times as possible; quite the contrary! I am concerned about the over-specialization that we’ve seen in the last decade or so. When you print all these Bibles at some point you have to think you’ve run out of great things to say and you move in to the mediocre then the lame things to say.
This version is definitely in the mediocre (bordering lame) side of the so-called devotional spectrum. Many of these devotionals don’t actually work to encourage, engage, teach but instead they simply exist. Consider Why Ask Why? on p 563, which talks about suffering and Job. It is a conversation between a husband and wife about why she got cancer. The man finishes with, “I think if God was going to give you cancer because of something you did, he’d have the decency to let you know what it was.” A question that misses the point of Job and sounds more like Job’s friends than Job or God. What does the devotional do with this issue? It simply asks “Why does God allow good people to suffer?” then asks – but does not answer – “Why is the previous question so hard to answer – especially for Christians?” Great question Zondervan! Why don’t YOU answer it?
When I was in college I wanted answers to tough questions not reiterations of my pre-existing questions. I think this version misses the mark.
Scott Asher is the Editor-in-Chief of BookGateway.com. His personal blog is AshertopiA – a land flowing with milk and honey… and a lot of sticky people where he turns real life into stupid cartoons, writes on Christianity, Zombies, and whatever else he wants and posts Bible studies from his classes at church.
This book was provided by the publisher as a review copy.
Interview with Skybound’s Shawn Kirkham
I admit it: I’m a Walking Dead fanboy. I’ve read all the issues of the comic, played through the full Telltale game on Xbox 360, watched all the seasons of the TV show, read both published novels, and read most of the interviews online by the creators of the comics and TV show. I’m fascinated by this world and why so many of us are hooked. That’s why I’m very excited today to bring you a conversation I had with Shawn Kirkham, Director of Business Development at Skybound, the company behind The Walking Dead, on the future of the comic and novel series’ and the world of the Walking Dead.
BookGateway (BG): Thank you so much for agreeing to answer some of my questions Shawn.
Shawn Kirkham (SK): Thanks for having me Scott. Please be gentle.
BG: To get to know you better: You are about to be marooned on an island (it’s good to know ahead of time, right?) and you get to take three books. What are they?
SK: The classic three items on a deserted island question. I’d have to say Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, The Complete Works of H.P. Lovecraft and 1,001 Ways to Cook Coconut.
BG: We can’t always prepare for the apocalypse, so let’s say it happens right now and – for better or for worse – you only have the book(s) you were currently reading in your backpack. What book(s) did you bring with you as you (foolishly) make your way to a big city?
SK: In my bag right now are Blackdog by K.V. Johansen and Quarterback of the Future by Mike Florio.
BG: Now that we know everything about you, on to The Walking Dead (WD). The WD is officially a cultural phenomenon. The zombies have invaded and overrun first comics, then TV, and now novels and video games. As Director of Business Development, what’s next?
SK: This October is the 10th anniversary of The Walking Dead. There are some very cool and fun things planned throughout the year. We find ourselves quickly approaching San Diego Comic-Con in July and New York Comic-Con in October. We’ll also be announcing soon the next step in The Walking Dead 100 Covers program with Hero Initiative. Also at the Wizard World conventions this year, each paid attendee gets an exclusive copy of The Walking Dead #1 featuring a different cover artist for each event. People can get all of the news and announcements about The Walking Dead at www.thewalkingdead.com.
BG: Everyone wants to know, so I’ll take a shot and get these two questions out of the way: will the comics and Telltale Games characters cross over? And will we see Daryl in the comics? (I had to try!)
SK: We’ve already seen some crossover of characters from the comics appearing in the Telltale game. I don’t want to spoil the story for anyone out there. As for Mr. Dixon, I believe he just had his own video game release. Isn’t that enough?
BG: Zombie stories had always previously been a niche market. The WD has certainly changed that. Why is it that this world has captivated us to the point where it’s now mainstream to admit to enjoying a zombie story?
SK: With The Walking Dead it’s more than just a “zombie” story. It’s a story about the people who are put into the most horrific of situations and how they find ways to survive. To me, it’s the interpersonal relationships that keep me coming back every month. The zombies are more background players to the central story.
BG: The fiction novel marketplace is being flooded with cheap zombie romance (WTH?!) and fantasy books, similar to how Twilight nearly ruined vampires. This year we also see two heavily advertised movies featuring zombies prominently: World War Z and Warm Bodies (speaking of Twilight. Ugh.) How do you differentiate the WD from all the noise?
SK: I can’t say that I’ve read any “zombie romance” novels, but I know that there’s a place for everything in the market. If someone is looking for those types of interpersonal relationships, they can definitely find them in The Walking Dead. Early on in the series you’re put in the middle of the Rick/Lori/Shane dynamic. Over the course of the series you find these types of themes popping up while the survivors try to cope with a new normal. I think that’s truly the core of the series. These are regular people trying to find some sort of normalcy in an apocalyptic world.
BG: Just so I know my chances: What would make someone in a world like the WD successful? What traits would give someone a better chance of survival than other people?
SK: Honestly, I don’t think I have any of the traits needed to survive. So, I’m not sure I’d be much help to you. Maybe learn to use a katana sword.
[SPOILERS]
BG: In the WD, becoming emotionally attached to characters can be devastating. Take the ending of the Telltale Game, where WE die leaving Clementine alone, or in (what I think is possibly the most emotional TV episode in the history of TV) when Carl talks to Lori as she lies dying and then has to shoot her. We know that Robert Kirkman (RK) is going to kill our favorite characters but we watch anyway. What is wrong with us? And why is RK so frakkin evil?
SK: There’s something magical about reading a book or watching a show and knowing that anything can happen to your favorite character. That’s what keeps you coming back for more. Is this the week that (insert fan favorite character name here) dies? Who knows, but you’ll be there to check it out.
[END SPOILERS]
BG: RK has said that this is not a book about zombies but about people, “I mean the book is really just a bunch of guys standing around talking. I’m not trying to rag on my own book or anything, but at its heart it’s not just strictly a horror story” (IGN 2007). We’ve been watching these characters “stand around talking” for a long time now. What have we learned? What’s the moral of the story?
SK: What we’ve learned is that no matter what, against the greatest odds, humans find the will to live.
BG: Final question about the comics. Back in issue 75 when the aliens revived Rick to… just kidding.
SK: I thought we ended spoilers!!!
BG: On to the future. Speaking of Skybound specifically and where this series is going, RK said he could see himself doing this for 20 years. It’s been nearly 10 years since he said this and the series is exploding. Imagine that this series lasts a further 20 years. In 2033, where do you see the world of the Walking Dead? Will there be a series of books or just the current trilogy? Are we on issue 200 of the comics and if so what’s happening? Can you see RK giving up creative, day-to-day writing and control?
SK: I’m not one who looks too far into the future, but I can definitely see The Walking Dead lasting another 20 years. Robert has always said that as long as people are still interested in The Walking Dead, then he’ll keep writing it. If we make it to 2033, then we should be beyond issue 300. I think that would be an outstanding accomplishment. As for what I think the world of The Walking Dead would be headed by issue 300, I can’t say for sure. We’ve seen the world start to expand in the last few story arcs. So I’d hope that we’d get to see more of the world and how other people have survived.
BG: Thank you again for speaking with me. Congratulations on your company’s success and good luck in the future. (And tell RK I love him!)
SK: Thank you!
Skybound is the home of Robert Kirkman’s creator-owned work including his Eisner Award-winning comic book series, The Walking Dead, long-running Invincible, all-ages Super Dinosaur, Thief of Thieves and Clone as well as Witch Doctor and Invincible Universe. Since its inception, Skybound has created television shows, merchandise and a wide spectrum of platforms, games (The Walking Dead: Assault iOS app), and entertainment events (The Walking Dead Escape). Skybound’s successes include the comic behind the hit Emmy®-winning television show, AMC’s The Walking Dead, the highest-rated basic cable drama of all time in the U.S, also an international success in 122 countries and 37 languages. AMC is developing Thief of Thieves as a potential series. Skybound/Kirkman frequently top the hardcover and paperback bestseller lists. Your destinations for all news and merchandise from Robert Kirkman, The Walking Dead and all Skybound titles is www.Skybound.com or www.TheWalkingDead.com
Scott Asher is the Editor-in-Chief of BookGateway.com. His personal blog is AshertopiA – a land flowing with milk and honey… and a lot of sticky people where he turns real life into stupid cartoons, writes on Christianity, Zombies, and whatever else he wants and posts Bible studies from his classes at church.
Walking Dead Vol. 18: What Comes After by Kirkman, Adlard, and Rathburn
Negan has completely and fully turned once tough guy incarnate Rick in his b****. Carl doesn’t respect him. Andrea isn’t sticking around. The battle is over. Right?
The Walking Dead
Volume 18: What Comes After (103-108)
Written by Robert Kirkman
Illustrated by Charlie Adlard and Cliff Rathburn
Image Comics
June 2013
[SPOILERS GALORE] When Rick decides to go with a new plan to placate Negan and the Saviors instead of fighting not everyone is on board with it. But what choice does he have? Carl, though, has thoughts of his own about how to handle the threat and stowes away on the truck going back to Negan’s base with a large caliber machine gun. Once captured, which was inevitable, he is at the mercy of Negan’s mercurial whim. Carl’s capture sets in a motion a plan to save him – with Michonne, Andrea and Jesus following Rick – but at what price? [END SPOILERS]
After finishing up the most recent season on AMC you may be tempted to think that the series has no where to go. But you’d be so very wrong. The comics have long been much more intriguing and exciting – and that’s saying quite a bit – than the show. The show is hampered by actors and contracts and audience demos. The comic is not hindered at all, except by the whim of creator and writor Robert Kirkman’s decisions. So we find characters dying and growing and changing to a degree not seen in the show. And we find even more dangerous characters than the Governor. Negan is a great example of this. A complex and volatile enemy who we find is much more than simply a killer.
After the events in issue 100, this series changes once again in ways that we readers wouldn’t have guessed. I’m a fan of reading the trade paperbacks as we get a group of issues (usually 6) that we know are out and can run through them quicker than waiting on the next issue (which may or may not come out in a month.)
The artwork is expressive as always and the detailed landscapes and expressive characters lends itself to the world of the Walking Dead so much better than most comics out there today. The writing is tight and the pace just ambling enough to be authentic but just quick enough to keep the reader engaged.
Scott Asher is the Editor-in-Chief of BookGateway.com. His personal blog is AshertopiA – a land flowing with milk and honey… and a lot of sticky people where he turns real life into stupid cartoons, writes on Christianity, Zombies, and whatever else he wants and posts Bible studies from his classes at church.
Firebrand by Philip
Two worlds separated by a magical Veil collide in a dazzling mix of fantasy and dark ages, where demonic fairies impersonate priests who burn “witches” to sate their blood lust, where witch queens rule immortals through threat of death or banishment, and where a young boy filled with anger and hate wants only to be feared and respected.
Firebrand
Rebel Angels #1
by Gillian Philip
Tor
February 2013
Seth MacGregor is rejected by his mother, a powerful witch, and ignored by his father, a lord of a small village. His only friend, although not at first, is his half brother Conal. The same Conal in the opening pages of this book is about to be burned at the stake if Seth doesn’t put him out of his misery first with a well placed crossbow shot.
Without giving anything away this is the story of Seth and Conal and their growth and impending conflict with the forces of darkness in the real world (16th Century Brittish Isles,) and in their land beyond the Veil. There is political manuevering, battles, magic, war, court intrigue, love – everything a good fantasy novel should have. And Gillian Philip does it well.
From start to finish I was hooked by this story and by this broken young boy who we all know is so much more than we find him. This is only the first book in the series and I’m in line to get the next two. It’s been a long time since I’ve enjoyed a fantasy author’s creation this much.
I highly recommend it.
Scott Asher is the Editor-in-Chief of BookGateway.com. His personal blog is AshertopiA – a land flowing with milk and honey… and a lot of sticky people where he turns real life into stupid cartoons, writes on Christianity, Zombies, and whatever else he wants and posts Bible studies from his classes at church.
This book was provided by the publisher as a review copy.
Louder than Words by Plissner
This is a story of an underage high schooler who learns to speak again after a terrible tragedy through intense physical contact. Read: sexual acts.
Louder than Words
by Laurie Plissner
Merit Press
December 2012
The young lady loses her whole family in a car accident, loses her memory and loses the ability to speak. A young man who can actually read her thoughts comes along and wins her heart and in the end her ability to speak back for her. Along the way, she also learns about the truth of the accident.
This isn’t your normal love story. This is smut with under age characters.
[SPOILERS]
This is not a book for teens. Not only does it have violence (Sasha is saved from imminent sexual assault), and massive quantities of cussing (including all the way up to many, many F words), but also includes explicit sexual activities up to and including oral sex. In the end, she learns to speak BECAUSE of the sex. This is an awkward chapter of the current sex-solves-everything book fad, along with the 50 Shades series, Twilight’s non-stop lust-a-thon in books 3 and 4 and so on. Sex is so degraded by the way it is inappropriately lifted up that readers can’t possibly be satisfied with real world love. When you find that sex is abusive, like in 50 shades, or doesn’t heal all wounds, like in this book, you are left more empty than before.
This book is smut. Teens should not read it because the violence, language and sexuality is inappropriate for their age and adults should not read it because reading about two under age lovers is also inappropriate.
This is the second book I’ve read from Merit Press and it’s clear to me that they are interested in pushing the boundaries of books about children and teens. The language, sexuality, and violence in the books they publish are simply unexplainable. I recommend you keep your teens (and yourself) far away from this publisher.
Arieltopia, Young Adult Editor, is an 12 year old avid reader – usually going through a book a day – who gives readers a unique perspective on Young Adult, Teen Fiction, along with adult fiction: an actual teenager’s perspective.
Scott Asher is the Editor-in-Chief of BookGateway.com. His personal blog is AshertopiA – a land flowing with milk and honey… and a lot of sticky people where he turns real life into stupid cartoons, writes on Christianity, Zombies, and whatever else he wants and posts Bible studies from his classes at church.
This book was provided by the publisher as a review copy.
The Girl in the Wall by Benedis-Grab
At a high school birthday party, security guards for the live entertainment pull their weapons on the kids, start shooting, and the party turns in to a hostage situation. Ariel, the birthday girl hears the noises, quickly runs away and hides in a crawl space between the walls. Within moments a friend of Ariel’s who looks like her and her father are both executed in brain splattering gory detail. And then other kids are killed as well. Again and again all night long.
The Girl in the Wall
By Daphne Benedis-Grab
Merit Press
December 2012
Reading through this “Children’s book” for teenagers was more horrifying than even horror books I’ve read by Stephen King or the Walking Dead. Because this author crosses the line of torturing and killing children! In detail. With gore. A kid won’t answer where Ariel is (because they don’t know) so the bad guys shoot him in the head, brain matter splattering the other kids. Even a bad guy remarks, “I didn’t sign up to kill children” at one point.
Which brings me to the main question: what is the point of this? No one, movies, TV and most books go this far in violently treating characters that are children. (Remember the debate raised about the Walking Dead on AMC in season 1 when Rick shoots a child zombie? Imagine a story where bad guys killed children who were not zombies, a lot.) Here this author does and there isn’t a payoff. There isn’t a moral. There isn’t even progression of character. It’s like a horrible nightmare of what none of us parents would ever want to contemplate. A what if? from Hell. And the author seems to delight in it.
This is an uncompromisingly dark, poorly conceived and completely inappropriate book that I would never let a young person read (and I woudl go to great lengths to tell everyone to avoid.)
Scott Asher is the Editor-in-Chief of BookGateway.com. His personal blog is AshertopiA – a land flowing with milk and honey… and a lot of sticky people where he turns real life into stupid cartoons, writes on Christianity, Zombies, and whatever else he wants and posts Bible studies from his classes at church.
This book was provided by the publisher as a review copy.
A Year with G.K. Chesterton
G.K. Chesterton has an amazing, and mostly forgotten, capacity for intelectual wit and a book that proposes offering a daily dose of that wit is fine by me. The problem is that it’s not much of a devotional, which is what this book is trying to be.
A Year with G.K. Chesterton
365 Days of Wisdom, Wit and Wonder
Edited by Kevin Belmonte
Thomas Nelson
October 2012
Each day you get a brief Bible verse and a devotional (although who wrote the devotional is not clear as they aren’t cited) and then a quote that loosely fits the discussion from a writing of Chesteron’s. Sometimes it works, like March 4th where there is a passage from Job 28 then (someone’s) devotional about the failure of Agnosticism followed by two wise and witty quotes from Chesterton that do tie in. Other times, the book doesn’t connect the dots for us. So many of the devotionals start with the pasage then move on to a poem or song (uncited and unclear) and then move to Chesterton. Some just jump straight to Chesterton leaving the reader to form the connections.
As a devotional this book fails, but as a collection of quotes it wins. In fact, I enjoyed simply reading through the quotes and skipping everything else. If this were simply a collection of quotes by topic it would have been much more interesting. Even a calendar with quotes for each day makes more sense than this devotional format. It’s not that devotionals can’t be made from quotes, but that Chesterton didn’t write most of this as a devotion but as a lecture, argument or conjecture. It just isn’t the right genre for his work.
Scott Asher is the Editor-in-Chief of BookGateway.com. His personal blog is AshertopiA – a land flowing with milk and honey… and a lot of sticky people where he turns real life into stupid cartoons, writes on Christianity, Zombies, and whatever else he wants and posts Bible studies from his classes at church.
This book was provided by the publisher as a review copy.
Star Wars The Old Republic: Annihilation by Karpyshyn
Unlike the stale storylines in other science fiction universes, Star Wars continues to expand with new characters and stories that build upon the originals without negatively impacting continuity. This book is based on characters and the timeline from BioWare’s Old Republic video game and is a blast without Luke, Han, and other familiar names.
Star Wars The Old Republic: Annihilation
By Drew Karpyshyn
Read by Marc Thompson
LucasBooks | Random House Audio
November 2012
In this story, Theron Shan, a special investigator for the Republic (think: galaxy-wide CIA) is on assignment to find a way to stop Darth Karrid and her unstoppable Imperial battle cruiser, the Ascendant Spear. The Ascendant Spear has thus far not only won every battle it’s taken part in but completely annihilated any resistance with unnatural speed, agility in space and firepower due to the human-ship connection made by Karrid and the Force with the ship.
After Theron steals a way to decode Imperial transmissions he soon has to choose whether the goal of destroying the Ascendant Spear (and possibly ending the war) is worth the cost. (I won’t give it away).
What I liked about this book is that Theron is a stand alone, popcorn action hero that would have fit in almost any Hollywood movie starring (younger) Bruce Willis or Tom Cruise. He’s that same gritty guy that we find in so many stories. Not a genius and not a Jedi, Theron relies on outsmarting and out shooting the enemies. This is Mission Impossible in Star Wars.
Because the story features new characters, and fun ones at that, and because it is an enjoyable if not deep story, this is one that I recommend. If you are an audio book lover then I recommend it even more as the audio book of Star Wars books are amongst the best produced of all books. Sound affects and music bring the book to life in ways that the normal audio book just doesn’t.
Scott Asher is the Managing Editor of BookGateway.com. His personal blog is AshertopiA – a land flowing with milk and honey… and a lot of sticky people where he cartoons, writes about Christianity, and posts Bible studies from his classes at church.
This book was provided by the publisher as a review copy.
NIV One Impact Bible
When the text hasn’t had anything new to say in 2000 years I guess some feel you have to spice it up with margin notes and devotionals to sell it. I just don’t see the difference and I don’t a compelling reason for this book being printed.
NIV One Impact Bible
by Terry Squires
Zondervan
October 2012
This Bible is the NIV but with devotional notes. While the notes are good – expecially for new believers or seekers – they don’t add as much to your devotional life as an actual devotional might. Consider [[ASIN:0929239571 My Utmost for His Highest: Updated Edition]] for an in depth, truth stuffed devotion. Compare that to the devotions in this Bible and you see that they fall far short. And this isn’t to say you gotta go with a great historical devotional. Most of today’s devotions are much better than the content added in the margins and text of this Bible.
So is the point to carry only one book? If so, why not carry a Kindle or just use your smartphone or tablet apps? You can have hundreds of devotionals and Bible versions at your finger tips.
I’m for printing as many NIV Bibles as possible and getting them in the hands of anyone who wants to read them. But I’m not for printing Bibles with different notes so that people who already own five Bibles can buy one more.
Scott Asher is the Editor-in-Chief of BookGateway.com. His personal blog is AshertopiA – a land flowing with milk and honey… and a lot of sticky people where he turns real life into stupid cartoons, writes on Christianity, Zombies, and whatever else he wants and posts Bible studies from his classes at church.
This book was provided by the publisher as a review copy.
Star Trek TNG: The Hive by Fickett and Corroney
In an alternative reality, 500 years after the events in Star Trek: The Next Generation, Jean Luc Picard is still Locutus and a member of the Borg. Along with the Queen, he and his Hive have conquered all of the universe and now he ponders what the point of it all was.
Star Trek The Next Generation: The Hive
by Travis Fickett and Joe Corroney
Diamond
March 2013
In the future, Locutus determines that the plan to assimilate was a faulty one as it leads to the untenable end of not having the ability to continue. Once everything is assimilated, what next? Determining that he must stop the Queen he sets his sight on stopping her 500 years earlier – just before her destruction of Starfleet and his assimilation.
What follows amounts to a short what-if? story where Locutus – and a recreated Data, of course – stand up to the Queen and try to get back in time through a convenient temporal displacement chamber to save 500 year prior Jean Luc (and Starfleet) and thus stop the Borg once and for all (this story, anyway). If it sounds like its been done it’s because it has. There are so many Star Trek Borg stories now that it’s simply hard to come up with something new. While I enjoy the canonical TNG, writing a new story in that continuity ultimately leads to a lack of satisfaction as we know that everything will turn out OK. It always does and we know the end of the story. Where is the tension when we already know Starfleet and Jean Luc win?
The artist does an exemplary job of recreating several characters in a non-wooden, believable way. Jean Luc, Data, Seven of Nine, et al. look great. The settings are right for TNG, if a little boring, but that’s the show’s fault more than the artist. Overall, the art is very well done.
In the end, this is an interesting, if trivial, side story for fans of the Next Generation but for science fiction fans looking for a good story this one will disappoint.
Scott Asher is the Editor-in-Chief of BookGateway.com. His personal blog is AshertopiA – a land flowing with milk and honey… and a lot of sticky people where he turns real life into stupid cartoons, writes on Christianity, Zombies, and whatever else he wants and posts Bible studies from his classes at church.
This book was provided by the publisher as a review copy.
Jack and the Giant Barbecue by Kimmel and Manders
Young Jack just found out that a giant stole his father’s award winning barbeque recipe book, which caused his father to immediately fall over dead with grief. WTH?!
Jack and the Giant Barbecue
by Eric A. Kimmel
illustrated by John Manders
Amazon Children’s Publishing
March 2012
(This isn’t a SPOILER as we learn this almost immediately.)
So Jack, overcome with anger over his father’s stolen recipe book (not his death,) sets out to find the giant and steal back the recipe book. Along the way he meets a talking, huge juke box that helps him steal the recipe book and get away from the pursuing giant. The giant falls off a cliff (and presumably dies). Jack opens a new barbecue joint that soon becomes famous and everyone (except his dead dad and the giant) live happily ever after.
Why a children’s book should have a father die in it is inexplicable. Why should it prompt questions like these? Why not have the giant capture the father and have Jack try to save him? Why was the barbecue recipe book more important than the father? This is most likely an attempt at satire and silliness. But most of it will be missed by the age group likely to ever read this, namely young children. Adults aren’t going to enjoy the book either so who this book is written for is an outstanding question.
This is a nice hard back book, with great colorful artwork. It is also a mess of a story with one huge, glaring dumb choice by the author. Children’s books should be fun and carefree. This one is not.
Scott Asher is the Editor-in-Chief of BookGateway.com. His personal blog is AshertopiA – a land flowing with milk and honey… and a lot of sticky people where he turns real life into stupid cartoons, writes on Christianity, Zombies, and whatever else he wants and posts Bible studies from his classes at church.
This book was provided by the publisher as a review copy.
Super-Dragon by Holgate and Kroll
In dragonland there will be a flying competition. Unfortunately, young dragon can’t fly so he can’t compete. After feeling dejected he asks a bird to teach him how to fly and then quickly masters figure 8s. When the competition comes around he shows everyone how awesomely he can fly figure 8s and wins!
Super-Dragon
By Steven Kroll
Illustrated by Doug Holgate
Amazon Children’s Publishing
February 2011
Normally, I don’t give away the story, but this book is definitely not for you (if you are reading this review), so we should be good. This book is for very young children who are being read to. My 3 year old loves it, for example. I say definitely not for you because I didn’t enjoy reading it. There just isn’t much to root for. It’s a rushed story, with no perserverance, and little pay off. The young dragon learns to read on one splash page! (Which is like 20% of the book, since it is so short.)
So what has this book got going for it? It looks great. The art is fantastic and colorful. The hardback and cover are very well done and give the impression of richness.
What’s wrong with the book? The dragon doesn’t learn a lesson; he teaches a lesson. “Take that older dragons who didn’t believe in me based on facts, like I couldn’t fly” he seems to be saying. It’s compressed and over in just a few pages. The listener won’t learn any lessons.
Overall, a pretty book with a story that is actually a little off morally that children will enjoy. A very mixed bag.
Scott Asher is the Editor-in-Chief of BookGateway.com. His personal blog is AshertopiA – a land flowing with milk and honey… and a lot of sticky people where he turns real life into stupid cartoons, writes on Christianity, Zombies, and whatever else he wants and posts Bible studies from his classes at church.
This book was provided by the publisher as a review copy.
