As I stand by your pages
I get cut once again
Feelin’ low down, I’m blue
Yes, darlin’ I’ve the twos for you.
My apologizes to the original author of “I’ve Got the Blues,” but I wanted to introduce two books that might not be the “best” (for me anyway, therefore, making them Twos) in a unique way. But while I know that these are not for me, I know that somewhere, someone out there will be singing their praises and not have The Twos.
We shall start with Llama Unleashes the Alpacalypse by Jonathan Stutzman and say it was Ok. However, I do not know why I keep reading these 
Llama books. The off-beat, out-there humor is not my off-beat, out-there humor. This time Llama decides to pull a “lazy mad scientist” (lazy because instead of just cleaning up his mess he makes a bigger mess with a contraption that clones things) and clones his friend Alpaca. And of course, the insanity ensues. Illustrator Heather Fox does their best with illustrations that are as simplistic as the story itself. Details are minimal and Fox’s style is not for everyone. Still, there are two good things about this book: It is not as annoying as the other Llama book by Stutzman I read, and I know the perfect off-beat, out-there kid to give this too.
Continuing this journey, I See a Shadow by Laura Breen enters the world of rating two for several reasons. The first being that this book would be a great board book. This is because the traditional picture book size would be too large (even if in a mini format) and make the story look “lost” on the page. To write more than 50 words about this basic, somewhat simplistic look at shadows is to probably write more than the actual text count. The art is cartoon images that show how shadows behave. Far from scientific, it is a way to introduce a younger crowd to the concept of shadows. Yet, as an adult who understands shadows, I was not the audience.
And as these above are not for me, maybe they are for you. And I know that there are other books that might stop The Twos from happening again for me, so until then, I leave you with this:
In the written pages of time
I hope I’ll find words to ease my mind
But until then, I have the twos for you
Leave a Reply