August 20, 2017

THE BAD SEED

I just found the BEST read-aloud book of the year. The Bad Seed by Jory John and Pete Oswald. Seriously. I had someone read this to me when I experienced it for the first time, and it was one of the funniest storytimes I've ever attended. 


There is a seed so bad that he arrives late to everything, tells long jokes with no punch lines, and lies about pointless things. He's a bad seed, and everybody knows it. But even the baddest seed in the world can still change, right?


Speech bubbles and font sizes are key in the book. They allow for so many different voices, intonations, and suspenseful moments as the storyteller reads the book aloud. The illustrations are equally creative, with dramatic close-ups during the moments with larger, more drawn-out text ("I'm a baaaaaaaaad seed") and imagery that builds on itself over time. We see our hero seed looking increasingly more and more harassed as he narrates his existence with bandages, broken spots, and even a black eye. And of course this is all accompanied by hilarious facial expressions for all the other seeds, kernels, and nuts about town. 


The Bad Seed publishes next Tuesday August 29 from Harper! A good seed, indeed!

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