Monday, February 23, 2015

My Grandma's a Ninja - a bookwrap




Unwrapping some ninja quotes for you...












Unwrapping a cute poem for you...






My grandma is a ninja.
She dresses all in black.
Between two sips of tea,
She fends off an attack.

She offers milk and cookies
To muggers with her purse,
Then does a flying roundhouse
That sends them to the nurse.

She throws her knitting needles
And always hits her mark.
I’ve seen her flying jump kick
That takes down any shark.

Only one man can match her.
Their fights end in a draw.
He’s a fearless sensei,
Who’s also my grandpa

- Steve and Natasha Hanson


Unwrapping today's book...






Authored by Anke Wagner and illustrated by Danny

 Chatzikonstantinou.  Ages 4-8.


Ever wish your grandma could be a little more hip?  A little more exciting?  Well Ethan, the main character of 'My Grandma's a Ninja,' has one that truly is.  You see his grandma is a ninja and when they zip-line into school together, grandma appears from the ceiling at his show and tell making his teacher faint, and she teaches his classmates how to do karate and slow-motion backflips...well that is pretty awesome and cool isn't it?   He is now Mr. Popular with his friends and loves the limelight that his grandma has bestowed upon him.  


But then grandma does something that is truly unforgivable in his books.  She actually deflates the soccer ball and Ethan and his team are really, really upset.  He is more than upset, why he is mortified and wonders why he just can't have a regular grandma like everyone else.  How did he get stuck with her? 

Ethan does have a  change of heart when in the upcoming soccer game, a game that his team just has to win, manages to do so.  He puts all the skills and maneuvers of grandma's teachings into practice, and you guessed it...they win, making Ethan a soccer hero.   He is so happy and proud of both himself and grandma.  But he soon discovers that his grandma has had a changed of heart too. Maybe that ninja persona was a little over-the-top for her.  What do you suppose she morphed into next?  You will laugh when you discover the new-and-improved Ethan's grandma.  

The illustrations are quirky and fun and I love the fact that grandma wears her beads and carries her purse while in ninja mode.  The story is sometimes silly but always entertaining and it will have you laughing over and over again as you share the book with your kids.   







My list of the greatest things in life is pretty short: Kissing a baby. Watching a 1-year-old walk. Tickling a 2-year-old. Listening to a 3-year-old talk about his day. Seeing my own little kids blossom into big kids, then seeing their faces and personalities reflected in every new little face I see.

Somewhere there's a parent and a child cuddled up together reading a book, maybe even under the covers by flashlight. And there is giggling and page-turning and flailing limbs and joy and snot and probably some farting. And how great is that?

It's the greatest.

Visit me at toddtarpley.com.



Danny Chatzikonstantinou was born in 1973. He illustrates children's books and sometimes writes the words, too. He learned his craft by drawing on napkins at first. Later on, he moved to sketch pads and notebooks. Now he has a full set of sharpened pencils and tons of blank drawing paper that he never uses because he moved back to napkins again. Danny is a self-taught artist who lives and works in Athens, Greece.


Read on and read always!

It's a wrap.



http://www.storywrapsblog@gmail.com


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