I ended 2023 with two sequels read in the young adult category (a thriller/mystery/romance and a humorous/romance/fantasy graphic novel) and a young early reader that is part of a series but it sounds like you can read in any order. Each one showed a part of my personality.
And my very little kid came out when I read Zooni Tales: Keep It Up, Plucky Pup by Vikram Madan. And while I can take or leave Zooni, they have some interesting elements that could really make your young reader start to like reading, or could get your reader to read more. The first element is the rhyming text. At first, this was okay, but it eventually started to wear on me. However, the fun part was that each story is its own “chapter” and you can stop after one if needed. That break is good as I was reading it via an online reader copy, I was not sure how large it looked. And I know as a serious reader, thickness matters and can turn you off or on to the book.
The artwork is simple, not a lot to it, but it does not shy away from what is needed when giving details. It adds to the humor and quirkiness of things. There are a few “jokes” that adults will get, but nothing is over the head of the aged five to young eight-year-old reader, nor inappropriate (such as Zooni is looking for their shoe. When it is found, there is only one and the other characters ask, “Don’t you need to wear two shoes? Which Zooni replies, “Wear it? I chew it!”) The color is bold and lots of it. Things are cute, sweet, sugary. And they can have some humor as well, such as the Dancing Queen in book two Zooni Tales: A Friend Till the End (due mid-June 2024), which I found and figured I might as well give it a shot! Also read via an online reader copy. The format is the same, short stories with no connection (other than a theme of friendship) and lots of fun. There was more cheese and bread to the stories this time, with some lessons and more “oomph” for me reading them.
But perhaps the best part of either title is that Zooni seems to be gender neutral. For me, they seemed to present as male first, but then present as female. Finally, I realized that “They” was being used (book one) and “We” used in book two for another character.
