Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.44 AVERAGE
3.44 AVERAGE
Ehh. I didn't find this story to be satisfying at all. Also, it reads like a picture book...meaning the vocabulary and sentence length seems more complicated than the target age/interest level. Like it would probably have to be read to the child rather than by them.
And the bully? (Not even really an antagonist or any meaningful part of the story...) has a last name that's actually a pretty unfortunate slang term.
And the bully? (Not even really an antagonist or any meaningful part of the story...) has a last name that's actually a pretty unfortunate slang term.
While this book is cute and appealed in a big way to my 4-year-old daughter, I think that it has a terrible message. Gabby, a gum lover, is forbidden to chew any more bubblegum after blowing a bubble that gets in her hair. But she can't resist the gum ball in her pocket on the way to school and ends up blowing a bubble so big that it covers her and knocks into a power line. As a result, she turns into a bubble-gum-covered super hero, Gum Girl. So the take away here is that it's okay to disobey your parents as long as the disobedience turns you into a super hero? There aren't any bad consequences here except that she ends up getting detention and the only way she can tell her parents she's Gum Girl is to tell them that she's disobeyed them. I can see that the author was trying to put in a good moral story about the dangers of disobedience, but I don't think that it was done effectively. This one certainly won't get my vote for the Sequoyah Award although I'm betting it will still be my daughter's favorite after we read 2 more nominees (not that either of us meet the age requirement to vote).
This is a cute series for early grade schoolers that a friend/coworker helped me introduce to my kid, and he's loved it so much I can barely get him the others in the series fast enough, which he then takes everywhere he goes. These are part of the growing trend of transitional chapter books - part chapter book of regular text and part graphic novel - that I feel are so helpful in engaging young readers, especially more reluctant ones.
The first book introduces Gum Girl, a Latinx kid who is addicted to gum and one day blows a bubble so big she morphs into a superhero. She is happy to fight crime and help her community, but it isn't without conflict from her mother and her school. The illustrations and color scheme are fun, the cover is a scratch-and-sniff (obviously, how could you not), there's Spanish peppered throughout the text, and it ends on a cliffhanger. I can see this series having a wide appeal to young readers with all different tastes.
The first book introduces Gum Girl, a Latinx kid who is addicted to gum and one day blows a bubble so big she morphs into a superhero. She is happy to fight crime and help her community, but it isn't without conflict from her mother and her school. The illustrations and color scheme are fun, the cover is a scratch-and-sniff (obviously, how could you not), there's Spanish peppered throughout the text, and it ends on a cliffhanger. I can see this series having a wide appeal to young readers with all different tastes.
Gum Girl maybe one of the greatest kid super hero that I've ever heard of. The story is about a little girl that accidentally turns herself into a girl covered in gum, just after her mother told her to not chew anymore of that bothersome substance. This was a cute story for little girls to read, maybe bring in a new group of fans into the comic book world.
The only reason that I would not give this book a 5 out of 5 is because of the page layouts, I felt like it was to reminiscent of a beginners chapter book.
The only reason that I would not give this book a 5 out of 5 is because of the page layouts, I felt like it was to reminiscent of a beginners chapter book.
Not my favorite, but a quick read and cute enough. She must have gone through a lot of peanut butter.
The origin story of the Gumazing Gum Girl! Dun! Dun! Dun!
The story fell a little short for me and I didn't like the way the class bully was portrayed BUT the art is adorable, the main character is a gum-loving bilingual Latina (of Mexican heritage I think) who peppers a little Spanish into her speech, the adventure is fast-paced and entertainingly ridiculous (like Captain Underpants but thankfully with less underpantastic humor), and the book cover literally smells like bubble gum. I cheated and looked ahead in the series, and I think this one definitely works better for me when taken as part of the whole series.
Content notes: breaking rules, disobeying parents and hiding things from them even when it burgers her conscience to do so, class bully depicted as a large masculine girl
The story fell a little short for me and I didn't like the way the class bully was portrayed BUT the art is adorable, the main character is a gum-loving bilingual Latina (of Mexican heritage I think) who peppers a little Spanish into her speech, the adventure is fast-paced and entertainingly ridiculous (like Captain Underpants but thankfully with less underpantastic humor), and the book cover literally smells like bubble gum. I cheated and looked ahead in the series, and I think this one definitely works better for me when taken as part of the whole series.
Content notes: breaking rules, disobeying parents and hiding things from them even when it burgers her conscience to do so, class bully depicted as a large masculine girl
Good read for 2nd/3rd graders who are transitioning into chapter books, but may feel overwhelmed by books without illustrations. Some laugh out loud moments.
Cute funny story about Gabby, a girl who chews WAY TOO MUCH GUM (Veruca Salt style). One day, something goes HORRIBLY WRONG and the gum bubble she's blown is electrocuted, and Gabby is turned into the Gumazing Gum Girl!
Nice blend of text and pictures, good for a girl looking for something at about the Captain Underpants level (though not even close to as much potty humor). Not quite first chapter, though close.
Nice blend of text and pictures, good for a girl looking for something at about the Captain Underpants level (though not even close to as much potty humor). Not quite first chapter, though close.
Chews Your Destiny by Rhode Montijo is about Gabby Gomez a young girl in love with chewing bubble gum. While Gabby loves gum, her parents do not. So, one day her mom forbids Gabby to chew anymore bubblegum, but Gabby cannot resist. In her pocket she has a gumball and on the way to school, she chews it. But this gum wasn’t ordinary gum, it was the gum that turned Gabby into a superhero, it turned her into Gum Girl! Gabby then begins her adventures helping people as Gum Girl; however, she has to keep her identity a secret from her parents, which makes the situations she gets into a whole lot stickier than any piece of gum she’s chewed before. Along with hiding her identity from her parents, Gabby has to deal with her nemesis from school, Natalie. Natalie, who looked like Harold from Hey Arnold, was gross, especially in a scene involving a booger. Despite the unhygienic Natalie, this book reminded me of a type of Captain Underpants style of book for young girls. I liked this book, loved the illustrations and I look forward to reading more about Gaby’s adventures.
http://toriasbookshelf.blogspot.com/2013/07/gum-girl-book-1-chews-your-destiny.html
http://toriasbookshelf.blogspot.com/2013/07/gum-girl-book-1-chews-your-destiny.html