First Day of Groot!

June 24, 2019
In this marginal story by the creators of Night Night, Groot, a young Groot, the extraterrestrial, treelike member of Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy, takes off on an educational adventure with his buddy Rocket Raccoon. Deneen’s clunky verse accompanies an image of the duo at the breakfast table (“Breakfast is the greatest/ meal of the day./ It gives you the strength/ to run and play”) before they embark on a trip across the galaxy, during which Groot gets fleeting, vague lessons in sharing, counting, and working together to defeat villains who appear suddenly. Full-bleed, vividly hued cartoons by Atkinson feature a hodgepodge of Marvel superheroes and villains whom kids in the target audience may not know, but Groot fans know what they’re in for. Ages 3–5.

June 1, 2019
Groot and Marvel fans have a new picture book to add to their first-day-of-school shelves. Rhyming text leads readers through Groot's first day of school. He wakes up at home in his flowerpot, eats breakfast ("It gives you the strength / to run and play," though it appears to be sugary cereal), and boards the spaceship bus with Rocket Raccoon. The tongue-in-cheek lessons the pair learn are similar to those readers will experience in their own classrooms (in content though not in the look of the school), albeit injected with a heavy dose of Marvel violence and bad-guy vanquishing. Sharing, counting, and spelling are all learned before lunch, when friends gather. Teamwork is tackled afterward, when Thanos attacks, and the last lesson involves music. It's a great day for Groot, and for readers who are fans, this will certainly hit the spot, though the draw will surely be the bright, cinematic illustrations that are full of details to delight those familiar with the Marvel Universe; much is lost for those not in the know, and the text is lackluster. A back-to-school book solely for Marvel fans. (Picture book. 4-7)

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