From Crush the Turtle to Mr. Quimby, fathers come in lots of shapes and sizes.

And today, on the heels of Father’s Day, we honor them all in our latest podcast, all about books about dads!

 

Listen now: 

  (7:47)
Download the MP3 (3.7 MB)

• “Father-daughter make-over time!” — aka our mystery book (AND special guest) revealed!
• Our Books About Dads picks (Amalee and Danny, the Champion of the World)
• A dad-son book review from YOU (Peak)
• Disney animal dads
• We praise our awesomeness

Also, don’t forget: we’re kicking off our special month-long Summer Grab Bag theme! So send us a review of any of your favorite books, or any new books you’re reading this summer. And check out our Summer Grab Bag picks — all books that we’ve never recommended on Kidsmomo before!

— Karen and Nancy

Photo by flickr user Jim, the Photographer

Submitted by Ryan, Age 11 from Rhode Island

Rating:

I really think that Peak is a good book because it gives you the feeling that you are really there. In peak a boy and his father go to Mount Everest and try to get to the top because if they do the boy will be the youngest to get there.

Somehow, we ended up with a strange crew of detectives in our latest podcast, all about mysteries. We’ve got a riddle-solving rodent, an investigating insect, and a mastermind Mudshark. Wha…? Guess you’ll just have to tune in if you want to get to the bottom of this enigma!

  (10:37) 
Download the MP3 (5.1 MB)
• A resourceful rodent and plenty o’ cheese — aka our mystery book revealed
• Our mystery picks (Mudshark and Joey Fly, Private Eye)
• A musical interlude from Weezer
• A book rec from YOU (Cryptid Hunters)

Also, don’t forget: to get ready for Halloween, our new theme is spooky stuff! So send us a review of your favorite spooky book and check out our picks for Halloween last year, plus our new list of even more spooky stories.

— Karen and Nancy

Submitted by Hahaha me, Age 11 from Maine

Rating:

After Grace and Marty O’Hara’s parents go missing in the Amazon, the are sent to live with their uncle, Travis Wolfe, a mysterious man hiding many secrets. Wolfe believes in cryptids, creatures like the kraken and the Loch Ness monster, which means excitment, adventure, and danger…right?

Duh du jour! After literally falling into the jungle of the Congo, Grace and Marty have to face crocodiles, disease-carrying mosquitoes, and venomous snakes, which is no easy task considering Grace fears EVERYTHING. And did I forget to mention that it’s fabled a dinosaur the size of an elephant is wandering around the Congo? Of course, Noah Blackwood and Butch McCall just have to be involved, and they have a dark history with Wolfe. Unfortunately for Grace and Marty, Wolfe won’t be able to rescue you them for…oh, about a week, so they head off toward a safe house, unknown to them that they are involved in matters far more than they would think.

Cryptid Hunters is SO intriguing and dangerous and exciting and awesome!! This is the perfect book for a boring Sunday afternoon! After you finish it, read it’s sequel, Tentacles, because it is just as awesome as Crytpid Hunters!

Bobby Ellis-Chan. Henry Huggins. Alex Rider. Peak Marcello. A bunch of random names? Hardly! These guys’ monikers are all featured in book titles! And, of course, they’re all featured in our latest podcast, all about books with boys’ names in the titles:

  (13:20) 
Download the MP3 (6.4 MB)
• Call Nancy “Nate,” call Karen “Beck,” and call Alex Rider when you need a teen spy — aka our mystery book revealed
• Boy vs. girl, boy vs. guppies, and boy vs. mountain — aka our Boy’s Name picks, plus one from YOU (Bobby vs. Girls [Accidentally], Henry Huggins, and Peak)
• Even MORE kid-submitted reviews (The Hunt for the Seventh and the Babymouse series)

Also, don’t forget: our new theme is author memoirs and autobiographies! So send us a review of your favorite author memoir and check out these awesome author memoirs and autobiographies.

— Nancy and Karen

Submitted by Hahaha me, Age 11 from Maine

Rating:

He’s found illegally climbing skyscrapers. Vandalizing buildings. And plain being a moron. When all this happens, and the news reporters just have to be around, what do you do?

You make him pack his bags and go live with a father he didn’t know at all, a father who has a plan to make Peak reach the top of Mount Everest before his fifteenth birthday. Does it sound terrible? To me, it does. To Peak, it doesn’t.

Will he reach the summit before his birthday? Does he plunge to a dramatic death? Will he make it to the top at all? I’m not spoiling anything. Just “Read it or weep”, as Kidsmomo says.