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A review by saidtheraina
Leo Geo and His Miraculous Journey Through the Center of the Earth by Jon Chad
3.0
Weird, very strange book.
At first this seemed like a no brainer to booktalk to upper elementary for summer reading this year (2013's theme is "Dig into Reading"). But after a reading a pile more books for this age group, I wasn't inspired with something to say about it that would hook a classroom of kids.
It's an odd book. Super long and skinny, it illustrates a humanoid figure crawling through the imagined center of the earth, encountering contraptions and creatures along the way. There isn't really a plot (beyond what I just described), and there isn't really any character development either. There are speech bubbles, but they mostly consist of the character narrating the journey. The drawings are cool, don't get me wrong, and the right kid will totally get into looking at all the detailed world building. But it's black and white only, and reads pretty much like an extended doodle. The doodle you would eagerly peek over your best friend's shoulder to see, sure, but a doodle nonetheless.
Cool, but niche-y.
At first this seemed like a no brainer to booktalk to upper elementary for summer reading this year (2013's theme is "Dig into Reading"). But after a reading a pile more books for this age group, I wasn't inspired with something to say about it that would hook a classroom of kids.
It's an odd book. Super long and skinny, it illustrates a humanoid figure crawling through the imagined center of the earth, encountering contraptions and creatures along the way. There isn't really a plot (beyond what I just described), and there isn't really any character development either. There are speech bubbles, but they mostly consist of the character narrating the journey. The drawings are cool, don't get me wrong, and the right kid will totally get into looking at all the detailed world building. But it's black and white only, and reads pretty much like an extended doodle. The doodle you would eagerly peek over your best friend's shoulder to see, sure, but a doodle nonetheless.
Cool, but niche-y.