Calendar Review: THE PEANUTS 2018 DAY-TO-DAY CALENDAR

The PEANUTS 2018 DAY-TO-DAY CALENDAR features a Peanuts comic strip for each day of the week of the year, except Saturdays and Sundays which are featured on one page. Besides the Peanuts comic strip, the PEANUTS 2018 DAY-TO-DAY CALENDAR also features a little piece of trivia, riddle, or joke on the back of each page. There's also a small illustration of either one of the Peanuts gang in the bottom-left-hand corner of the calendar. Even with the comic strip, illustration, and the date there's more than enough space to right appointments, reminders, or notes. Great gift for a Peanuts fan.

Calendar Review: THE ARGYLE SWEATER 2018 DAY-TO-DAY CALENDAR

More lighthearted and pop-cultured infused than Gary Larson's "The Far Side", "The Argyle Sweater" is one of my favorite one-panel comic strips currently published in newspapers. With THE ARGYLE SWEATER 2018 DAY-TO-DAY CALENDAR I can enjoy a little of "The Argyle Sweater" each day without having to have a newspaper around or search around the Internet. There are a little over 300 comics found here (Saturdays and Sundays only have one comic between the two days). Also, there's a little fun fact, piece of advice, word puzzle, soduko, etc. found on the back of each calendar day.

Calendar Review: SPORCLE 2018 DAY-TO-DAY CALENDAR

Until last year, I was unaware of Sporcle. For those who are like I was, Sporcle is an online trivia website. The site is mainly devoted to all kinds of trivia quizzes. The

SPORCLE 2018 DAY-TO-DAY CALENDAR is a smaller and printed version of many of the quizzes you might find on Sporcle. There's a variety of challenges from word unscrambles (which often show up on Mondays), a list of naming four-letter words for a particular category (these usually show up on Wednesdays), matching games, choose the right answer game, listing all of the particular items in a certain category (for instance, can you name the seven states that only have one representative in the U.S. House of Representatives), and the Friday Challenge which is a general trivia question. I really enjoy trivia and participating in trivia nights. With that said, the SPORCLE 2018 DAY-TO-DAY CALENDAR really isn't like classical trivia and at times some of the games really aren't trivia (for instance, some of the word unscrambles or choose the correct word). It is different and kind of entertaining, so I understand the appeal, but personally I prefer the JEOPARDY 2018 DAY-TO-DAY CALENDAR or the 2018 TRIVIAL PURSUIT: MASTER EDITION CALENDAR.

Book Review: OH, BROTHER! BRAT ATTACK!

OH, BROTHER! BRAT ATTACK! is a comic collection of the “Oh, Brother!” comic strips that ran from June 2010 – August 2011. The strip features sister Lily and her younger brother Bud. The hijinks the siblings find themselves in are reminiscent of comics from the 1940s – early 1960s. The style of the strips are very simplistic and also evoke a retro-feel of strips from 1960s. Lily is the more sensible of the siblings and Bud is the wilder of the two. Despite their differences, Lily and Bud love each other very much and their affection towards each other can be easily seen.  I enjoyed reading OH, BROTHER! BRAT ATTACK! and hope more of the “Oh, Brother!” comics will be collected in book form.

Book Review: BIG NATE: A GOOD OLD-FASHIONED WEDGIE

Lincoln Peirce's continuing misadventures of middle schooler Nate Wright continue in BIG NATE: A GOOD OLD-FASHIONED WEDGIE.  In this collection, some of the storylines include Francis really annoying everyone with his strict adherence to grammar; Chad's grandma puts him on a strict diet;  Nate's grandpa comes to stay with him and his dad while grandma is on a senior bus trip; Nate's baseball team gets a new pitcher that turns out to be a girl he has a crush on; and Jenny moves back from Seattle and Nate sets his sights on gaining her affection, even though she immediately begins dating Artur. The "Big Nate" comics have gotten better over time and this is a nice collection of them. When purchased new, this book contains a "Big Nate" poster.

Graphic Novel Review: FOWL LANGUAGE: THE STRUGGLE IS REAL

FOWL LANGUAGE: THE STRUGGLE IS REAL is the second book collection of the comic strip "Fowl Language."  The strip examines the life of being a parent of two precocious children. However, the author does so by re-imagining his family as a family of ducks. The book begins with an introduction by the author. The inside back cover of the book features a short biography of the author. In between, are 120 pages (there's 126 total pages in the book, but the intro stuff is 6 pages long) of pure parental hilarity. This comic and the book are not intended for children as there are several foul words used throughout. I enjoyed reading FOWL LANGUAGE: THE STRUGGLE IS REAL and look forward to other "Fowl Language" books.