Rocket Town


In the words of the immortal R. Kelly, on his less than immortal track Sex Planet: "Girl, are you ready girl, to take a trip out of this world?" 

THREE PROS
*Bob Logan obviously took a lot of time and effort with the spaceships in his illustrations -- and it pays off because your kid will want to spend an extra minute on each page analyzing them (but these delays don't cause choppiness in text comprehension)  
*Speaking of the overall visual feel of the book, I loved how Logan's recent work (released in the same year as the song referenced above) was able to evoke such a retro Nuclear Age mindset
*Just because the book includes a very predictable countdown and blastoff doesn't diminish the fun it will provide you and your child 

THREE CONS 
*The page where all the rockets come down is a tad confusing to the eye -- partly because they are all colored in black (I guess to connote nighttime) and partly because they are all a few feet off the ground (yes, they have parachutes, but you can understand why your mind thinks they are launching at first glance) 
*Something about the rocket salesman counting his money with a slimy look on his face bothers me every time 
*Is the "Chopper" rocket supposed to be a nod to motorcycles -- 'cause it looks like a squashed spider to me

ONE DAD'S OPINION
There's no doubting the author's commitment to the bit.  Everything in the book has a rocket angle to it, all the way down to the burger stand waitresses' rocket-skates!  Still, this was a tougher book than most for me to rate.  I really found myself vacillating between everything but a Destroy, although Donate was a distant third.  I would almost rate it a Buy because it's shape is conducive to easier page turning AND allowed Logan to fit more stuff in here than a usual board book would have.  But I settled on it being a Borrow, partially because it's the natural ratings middle ground in a scenario like this, but also because the text is about as basic as it gets.  I'm not knocking the simplicity, I'm just pointing out that the artwork pilots this craft while the words are just along for the ride... [Oh, and be thankful I didn't choose to pull any more lyrics from Mr. Kelly in this review.  Let's just say he made the Milky Way and black holes almost as dirty for me as the whole Uranus thing.]      

Buy / BORROW / Donate / Destroy




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