In this series of articles, I will give brief reviews of various children's books my son picked out at the library. Yes, I actually read them; well, except for the ones that get on my nerves due to lack of real value. All of the books, at the point, are graphic novels (comics), but they comprise a range of types, from little kids’ books to fables, to folklore, to educational, to biographical, and more, covering many genres (although he's not ready for horror, yet).
I hope you'll find these reviews helpful in choosing books for your children. Remember, read a story each night when your child is young to foster a love of reading. Don’t let them watch TV or play video games in their bedroom as too much screen time (more than about 1-2 hours a day) has been scientifically proven to be bad for the brain development of any person who is not finished growing (i.e. around the age of 25 – think wisdom teeth).
Regular Show (series)
My son's score: 2🌠
My score: 1🌠
What's taught: teamwork, minimal consequences, fantastical problem-solving (usually involving violence)
Synopsis: The general theme of these books seems to be that Mordecai and Rigby get into or cause trouble, resulting in massive amounts of trouble and damage, and then have to save themselves and, often, everyone else, too. Most often, Rigby (a raccoon?), the more immature one instigates foolish and selfish behavior and Mordecai (the bluejay) aka Mordo, who is smarter and more mature but has poor willpower, gets goaded or weakens and agrees to Rigby’s childish demands. I have to wonder if the creators of this series use LSD, magic mushrooms or THC-dominant marijuana to induce the hallucinatory-style plots. And the worst thing about it is that, after they’ve finished resolving the problems that they (almost always) created, the consequences range from Benson telling them to clean up the mess, or nothing. I certainly don’t recommend these books because whatever redeeming qualities they may have do NOT sufficiently mitigate the negative aspects. Each book has an art gallery of the various covers of the books, which can take up ¼ - 1/3 of the book’s latter end. I forced myself to read all of them, and I hope you’ll not rot your kids’ brains with them.
Volume Two has 7 stories in it.
The first (no name) is about them taking lots of selfies with the most loathsome expressions they can imagine, and their efforts to remove them from the digital world (through violent confrontation with the demons of the Internet) because Mordo is afraid that Margaret will despise him, and then the discovery that Margaret likes doing it, too. I guess this one has an ok moral and teaches about the danger of putting something online, but the frequent use of violence in the Regular Show doesn’t really inspire confidence as a parent.
The second (“Art Appreciation”)starts with everyone being on a day-long vacation with Benson at the beach - except Thomas, who’s been left in charge, Pops, who doesn’t work, and Hi Five Ghost, who doesn’t tan. Hiding in the bushes is a spray-paint-can-humanoid in a hoodie. Pops is teaching Thomas about using the schedule when they hear a crash outside. They are faced with Benson’s old nemesis, Park Avenue, a graffiti artist, and he and his team of taggers and artists mark up the whole park. However, Thomas destroys PA’s “street cred,” his followers abandon him and he vanishes. Then, everyone else returns and Thomas is blamed for everything by Benson, who orders all of them to clean up without Pops or HFG telling him the truth. The only lesson I really see here is that you can use words to destroy someone else, with an appropriate context.
The third story ( “Short Stories, Bro” section) has the boys on a trip through “Sombrero World”, which really tempts them to stop their mission of delivering the broken golf cart to the dealers, but they are motivated by doing the job right and rubbing it in Benson’s face. S.W. is a massive, miles long, series of billboards that tempt them again and again. Miraculously, they stay the course, but an S.W. robot/sign starts chasing them. They arrive just in time to answer Benson’s call to the dealer, who then asks them to go to S.W. to buy him a sombrero. DOH! I think this one teaches about perseverance, but that’s undercut by the desperate straits they find themselves in because of his request.
The fourth (“Arm Skills”) is about how they decide they want to buy a slot car racing set, so they ask Skips to teach them how to arm wrestle so that they can win the arm-wrestling contest and win $2,000. Skips puts them through a rigorous regimen and they’re just about to win the contest when the world is invaded by “Paingiver Prime”. The only opponents the boys have left turn out to be 2 robots masquerading as humans, who explode themselves to stop the fiend. As a result, the “judges” (who must be shifty) tell the boys that the robots are posthumously awarded the trophy and the $2,000 is going to be used for a memorial fund. In the end, we learn the set only cost $10. What’s the lesson? Um, work really hard and you’ll be successful, but then you’ll probably get ripped off by some shady judges and give up.
The 5th (“Hot Tub”) tells a ridiculous story in which Rigby salvages an old hot tub from the forest with Mordo’s help, only to discover it’s alive when they’re teleported to Trubville, the home of all sentient jacuzzis, where they are charged with crimes against them. However, Rigby tells a tear-jerker of an excuse and the king relents. He tries to get Mordo to marry his daughter, but Mordo refuses and they are sent back home. Lesson? Be deceitful and play on someone else’s hopes to escape punishment.
The 6th (“A Prank Most Foul”) starts with Muscle Man (MM) pranking Rigby, who pranks him back and then a bank thief who looks almost identical to him runs through, causing identity confusion with Rigby being chased by the police while the thief is chased by MM, who wants to shave all his fur off. All’s well that ends well, with the thief turning himself in to escape MM and then, being a skunk, he sprays Rigby because he’s angry. I guess the lesson is to not prank others.
The final story (“Spoiler Alert”) is about the boys efforts to gain entrance to a movie showing illegally, with Rigby constantly starting his statements in a sarcastic way with the words “Spoiler Alert!” During the movie, though, the boys get upset because the movie is lame, so they start calling out spoiler alerts. The audience (all dogs for some reason) gets angry, stops the movie and has a trial, in which they’re convicted and death (on a motorcycle) comes in, and punishes them with a very long movie that is supposed to show them how they die, but they run away because it’s both boring and, for them, the suspense is terrifying them (but, really, it’s boring). Lesson? Don’t call out spoilers during a film.
If you appreciate this article, please 🏅upvote/like👍
, 🤩resteem/share
and share it to Facebook
, Twitter
, Reddit
, LinkedIn
and wherever else
you can!