Kids Are Weird: And Other Observations from Parenthood HCPublisher: Chronicle Books
Release Date: March 18, 2014
Price: $14.95
Creator: Jeffrey Brown
Format: 108 pgs., Full-Color, Hardcover
ISBN: 978-1-4521-1870-3
Age Rating: N/A
ICv2 Rating: 3 Stars out of 5
Jeffrey Brown's book, without any ties to Star Wars this time, is a reasonably clever set of illustrated non-sequiturs and odd comments from his son Oscar. If these interactions really occurred as portrayed, Oscar is intelligent, precocious and a lot weird.
The strength of the book is that Brown has a good ear for odd language and thought processes. So, when his son says something strange, he finds a way to turn it into a cartoon that is low-key enough to support the contrast between weird and normal. Sometimes you can follow Oscar's logic in the things he says, but once in a while the reader is missing context, even with the visual aid of the cartoon. Twisted logic and out-of-context remarks are not always inherently funny.
The weakness of the book is that it has to be read in very small doses in order not to be repetitive. The difficulty is that after the first 50 or so things, the 51st one just isn’t as surprising or funny.
There are people who will want this book due its connection to Darth Vader and Son. Tell those people to read just one or two cartoons at a time, and they will probably enjoy this book, but probably not as much.
--Nick Smith: Library Technician, Community Services, for the Pasadena Public Library in California
