Michael RexAnmeldelser

Independent Reading Level: Grade Kdg-3rd
Nominations:
Monarch Book Award Nominee 2024-2025

A playful explanation of the differences between facts and opinions.

The bright illustrations and zany humor make this book about telling the difference between wants and needs shine.

A brilliant introduction to the difference between fact an opinion, encouraging interactivity and participation.

"A fact is anything that can be proven TRUE or FALSE....An opinion is something that you FEEL and you BELIEVE but you cannot prove."½

A little witch encourages everyone to march, stomp, and shake as they follow along with her. A clown, werewolf, mummy, and skeleton join in the fun, and before the night is through a surprise is revealed.

The Bottom Line: With large print and a surprise twist ending, this Halloween gem is sure to entertain preschoolers. Illustrated in pencil and graphic software. Perfect for story time and getting kids to follow along.

This review also appears at the Mini Book Bytes Book Review Blog.½

"You have to take risks when making friends."

I really love how charming this series is and how it manages to include such good life lessons without being corny or unsubtle. Fred is so sweet and shows that kindness is not a weakness.

Robots help young readers understand the difference between WANT and NEED. Although to the question, "Do you want to turn the page, or do you need to turn the page?", I bet kids would argue that you could also NEED to turn the page because you NEED to find out what happens next!

Genre
Picture books for children
Stories in rhyme
Writing Style
Minimal text
Illustration
Big and bold
Colorful
Subject
Animals
Automobiles
Motor vehicles
Transportation
Vehicles

Independent Reading Level: Grades 2-5
Awards: N/A

Perfect bedtime book for Halloween!

This was silly and quirky. A do-gooder robot in a post-apocalyptic world just wants everyone to get along and be friends. But the story’s entertaining and has a subtle message. Despite such a friendly main character, it even acknowledges not everyone will be friends. I think that’s a great balanced message.

Overall, I enjoyed reading this.

I...guess I don't really know how to rate this. It's not exactly the "funnest" book out there so I have no idea how an actual child might react, but I definitely know some kids who could have used repeated readings of this... Guess this is a "veggies" type of book: good for you for a specific reason.

Cute and clever. Not quite as charming as the original, but a quality parody. (The book cover calls it a "petrifying parody".) I did like looking at the pictures a bit more than the original. The pictures are of all sorts of scary creatures or objects, but they all look friendly. Tis a good children's book and a good Halloween book.

Grade Level: 4-8
Awards: New York Times Best Seller

Author/illustrator Michael Rex offers a monstrous parody of Margaret Wise Brown and Clement Hurd's bedtime classic, Goodnight Moon, in this fun rhyming romp. As a little werewolf prepares to go to bed in his tomb, a green goon climbs in the window and begins destroying all of the things to which he (the werewolf) had been about to say goodnight. Eventually, the werewolf must put the goon in his place, and all ends peacefully...

Goodnight Goon: A Petrifying Parody is only the second title I have picked up from Michael Rex, following upon his witchy picture-book, Brooms Are for Flying, and it is one that I found enjoyable, even if it isn't destined to become a favorite. I appreciated the parallel of rhythm and theme, to the classic bedtime book from Brown, and I think young listeners will be amused by the monstrous hi-jinks. Although no mention is made of Halloween, this would be an excellent bedtime book for that time of year, I think.

Not my style. And apparently I forgot that I had read it before. Not a good sign.

This book is cute and fun. My sixth grader, who usually dislikes reading picture books to his kindergarten-age sister, was enthusiastic about this one because he has learned in school that fact vs. opinion is important. I don't know that she understood the distinction after hearing the book, but he certainly did a great job using the book to try to teach her--and they both had fun.

scary, but not really; the baby is the one who sees and dances with the monsters!!

This book follows a little mummy and his mother. She is chasing after him for bedtime. They go through several scenarios of what he could turn in to and what she would turn into to counter it.

A bunch of robots illustrate the differences between facts and opinions. For instance, it's a fact that one robot is blue, but it's an opinion that the blue robot is the most fun robot of the bunch. It also cautions against claiming facts without having all the information. For example, the reader cannot tell if a green robot is big, medium, or small in size without seeing it in comparison to the other robots.

This book is great for discussing information literacy with young children and helping them make the distinction between truths and feelings. But it's not a dull and dry tome -- instead it's fun and engaging. The illustrations are colorful and cheery looking, and the text asks the children questions. (My one small quibble is that a question will be presented on one page of a spread and then the answer is on the other page of the spread in such bold text that it's more difficult to hold this up as a readaloud unless you plan of making modifications to cover up the answer until you're ready to read it.)

All in all, this is definitely a good read for elementary school-age children (and maybe even some middle-grade tweens) when doing a unit of information literacy or really any time to make sure they are constantly learning and remembering the lessons shown here.

Do you know the difference between a fact and an opinion? It can be a hard thing to understand. Some things are facts--like the number of robots in this book. Other things are opinions--like which robot would make the best friend, or which robot dances best. And sometimes to tell the difference between a fact and an opinion, you need to wait to get more information--that's because facts can be proven true or false, and opinions are things you feel and believe--but that you can't prove.

This story is about a monster who wants to eat a little boy named Pete, but he soon finds there is more to eating little kids

A stupidly amusing lesson in facts vs. opinions with silly (and occasionally battling) robots. This seems especially essential in the current political climate.

I find "current" picture books about politics, voting, etc. to be, well, annoying. I don't think they make any difference to kids. Maybe in a school library with some context, but not in a public library. Anyways, I was all prepared to dislike this one, but it turned out to be really good, both funny and informative, and what's more, it's actually written for kids, not adults!

The book begins, "Do you know the difference between a FACT and an OPINION?" Current evidence suggests that many people, adults and children, find this a confusing concept. Not to worry, robots are here to help! We'll start with some questions and statements about the robots. Is one blue? Do any of them have three eyes? These things can be proven true or false and are facts. Now for another question - which robot is the most fun? This is an opinion. It depends on who's asking, who's answering, and what your criteria are (the book does not use the word "criteria" but I totally would add it.)

The book continues asking questions, helping readers figure out the difference between a fact and an opinion, as well as showing how opinions can be made facts with more data, or can change when new and different data is added. After an argument over ice cream flavors, the robots also model respect for each other's opinions and show how they can either compromise or make their own choices.

Verdict: Rex's colorful robots, bold text, and helpful questions make this not only a great classroom resource, but a fun storytime game to play. Recommended.

ISBN: 9781984816269; Published February 2020 by Nancy Paulsen; Review copy provided by publisher; Donated to the library