In this series of articles, I will give brief reviews of various children's books my son picked out at the library.  Yes, I actually read them; well, except for the ones that get on my nerves due to lack of real value.  All of the books, at the point, are graphic novels (comics), but they comprise a range of types, from little kids' books, to fables, to folklore, to educational, to biographical, and more, covering many genres (although he's not ready for horror, yet).

I hope you'll find these reviews helpful in choosing books for your children. Remember, read a story each night when your child is young to foster a love of reading. Don’t let them watch TV or play video games in their bedroom as too much screen time (more than about 1-2 hours a day) has been scientifically proven to be bad for the brain development of any person who is not finished growing (i.e. around the age of 25 – think wisdom teeth). 

### Squish (series) ###
![](https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=http%3A%2F%2Fi.gr-assets.com%2Fimages%2FS%2Fcompressed.photo.goodreads.com%2Fbooks%2F1453060199i%2F28007884._UY630_SR1200%2C630_.jpg&f=1&nofb=1)
The book *Pod VS. Pod* by Jennifer L. Holm & Matthew Holm
<b>My son's score: 6🌠</b>
<b>My score: 3🌠</b>
<b>What's taught: </b>  science, specifically mitosis and microscopic creatures (protozoans), and mood (puberty?) swings, minor themes of friendship and tolerance of your friends’ strange behavior, as well as old-fashioned vs. new-fangled. The end of the book teaches a way to tell the difference between raw and cooked eggs, and how to draw Pod.
<b>Synopsis: Simple, cartoonish art, minimalistic colorization, backgrounds only when important. The tale focuses on disturbing mood swings in Pod the amoeba, Squish the amoeba and Peggy the paramecium, (there are other protozoans)</b> at school and outside. Woven through the story are scenes from Squish’s comic book “Super Amoeba,” but it doesn’t seem to tie into the story at all. I guess it’s an interesting way to teach mitosis to kids, although I’m not sure that children will really understand what it is from what’s presented.
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