children’s books – Skate and Annoy

Words fail me

Two illustrations from Christoph Niemann’s illustrated children’s book titled Words. Christoph says “I am inviting kids (and readers of all ages) to intuit and puzzle out meaning, and to see language as a source of ideas and stories.” Is that a bunch of hooey to justify a pet project? I don’t think so. I have to admit, the juxtaposition of […]

Happy Hocky Family

Here’s a couple pages from Lane Smith’s 1993 book The Happy Hocky Family. I guess the alliteration in Happy Hocky is more catchy than the Sardonic Hocky Family. – Thanks to MC for the tip.

Fun to Draw Skateboard Action Part 2

This is the second and last installment of Fun to Draw Skateboard Action book. Along with the familiar misnomers and weird physics, the second half of the book features a couple of filler pages with some “totally rad” action and an exercise to match the safety equipment with the part of the body that it […]

Fun to Draw Skateboard Action

“Skateboard Action” was a popular title for kids books in the 80’s, as this is not the only book to use it. Skateboard Action from the Fun to Draw series was published in 1989 by Hamburger Press. The illustrations are by Ed Francis, so the blame for mislabeling has to go with the author Debra […]

Ellray Jakes and the Beanstalk

Ellray Jakes and the Beanstalk was written by Sally Warner and illustrated by Brian Biggs. There’s one skateboard illustration on the cover, plus two on the inside. When my second grader finishes reading it, I’ll have him write a review. Can Ellray master the moves in time to win his friend back? EllRay Jakes may […]

Pete the Cat

I found Pete the Cat and His Four Groovy Buttons at a school book fair. It’s published by HarperCollins. Pete was created by Kimberly & James Dean, but this book was written by Eric Litwin. It turns out Pete has been skating since his appearance on the cover of Pete the Cat: Valentine’s Day Is […]

Fingerflip

I loved Ed Emberly’s drawing books as a kid, and I’m stoked that my kids enjoy them now too. MC must have been going through a box of childhood books, because he found this skateboarding thumbprint in an early pressing of Ed Emberly’s Great Thumbprint Drawing Book. he also has one called the Great Fingerprint […]

Police Car Elephant

I think these books are supposed to teach traffic safety, but in fact they inspire kids to pretend to run into the obstacles. In this case, a skateboarding elephant. Then there’s the gratuitous electronic noise designed to stimulate young minds and make parents want to jam a screwdriver into the speaker. (Thanks for that helpful […]

Get me out of here

Scene at marriage councilor: Wife: Alright, I’ll give you an example. Just yesterday at our child’s book fair he couldn’t stop posting on his ridiculous blog. We’re supposed to be encouraging our kids to read and sharing in their excitement to learn and he’s taking pictures for his stupid web site. Husband: But I have […]