Johnny Boo Book 5: Does Something

Johnny Boo #5

by James Kochalka

What does Johnny Boo do when there's nothing to do? Johnny Boo Does Something! In fact, he does a LOT of things!

Watch Johnny Boo have a Boring Adventure and discover Yawn Power, write an angry letter to Ice Cream Magazine, get a squiggly new hairdo, fall to the bottom of Ice Cream Hole #25, and celebrate the maybe-birthday of his pet ghost Squiggle, all adding up to the most inventive Johnny Boo book yet.

Genres: Graphic Novels, Comics, Childrens, Graphic Novels Comics, Humor

42 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 13, 2013

About the author

James Kochalka is an American comic book artist and writer, and rock musician. His comics are noted for their blending of the real and the surreal. Largely autobiographical, Kochalka's cartoon expression of the world around him includes such real-life characters as his wife, children, cat, friends and colleagues, but always filtered through his own observations and flights of whimsy. In March 2011 he will be declared the cartoonist laureate of Vermont, serving a term of two years.

Reviews

[Dave Schaafsma · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of my fave Kochalkas for little kids, like K-2 (and me). The (9, 10, 11 yr olds now) read them separately, I or someone reads them aloud, we all laugh, so that's a good thing. This one is about planning on a boring day, then ice cream, and so on. Low expectations, high results, is the point, but I always expect fun with Kochalka.

A funny: K suggests you read Boo parts with regular voice, Squiggle with high, squeaky voice. :)

More funnies: Fear of pencils.

Yawn power.

Ice cream hole #25.

Squiggle: "I'm just saying stuff for no reason." (as if this weren't the m.o. of Kochalka all the time. . .)

Bonus story: Johnny Who Meets Johnny Boo (co-written by 5 yr old son Eli)

[Haley · Rating 3 out of 5]

-Johnny Boo Does Something by James Kochalka Copyright 2013
Text to Text- The Cat in The Hat by Dr. Seuss, two children are sitting staring out the window planning on doing nothing the rest of the day. But then the Cat in The Hat shows up and then drama ensues, the unusual happens.

Text to Self- About the time I turned 13 years old I went over to my cousins’ house to play for the morning. When it was time to go home everyone got in the car and drove to my house. I was sitting on the other side of my cousin Emily in the way back seat of the van so I had to wait for her to get of the car first. We were the last ones out of the car, even so that everyone else had already made it inside the house. Once I finally got inside my entire extended family was there and yelled surprise! I thought it was just going to be a normal day but then I had a surprise party. It was super cool beach themed party.

Text to World- In 1980 when team USA entered the Olympics for ice hockey and team USA was not expected to do well at all and they ended up winning the entire thing and nobody expected them to. So just like in the story we expected nothing to happen and they ended up winning the whole thing.

[Jennifer Webster · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kochalka, J. (2013). Johnny boo does something. Marietta, GA: Top Shelf Productions.

Review
I really enjoyed this book and it was entertaining. This book is perfect for early elementary and the illustrations are simple and not too busy. The story is very funny and at the beginning it tells you what voices you should use when you read the characters, which got my attention.

Explanation
I would tie this book with having the students do their own readers theater and practice using different voices. I would first read this to the students and then they would have a different story to perform for their readers theater.

[Christoph Meyer · Rating 4 out of 5]

The plotless, meandering, stream-of-consciousness nonsense could be irritating to some, but not my kids, who have read this over and over. Johnny Boo does indeed do something in this book, but barely. Do you want to know what he does? Spoiler ALERT: He says, "Boo!" and laughs a lot at the bottom of Ice Cream Hole Number 25 and goes on a boring adventure where he yawns.

[Cleo Joyce · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of my regular littles was telling me how much he loved these books so I gave one a try. Cute easy graphic novel perfect for Elephant and Piggie and Ballet Cat fans!

[Pages Bursting Hearts · Rating 3 out of 5]

Definitely not as fun as zooming to the moon!

[Paula Greenfield · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is another great book in this series. I love Johnny Boo and his friends. I also love the challenges and how he works through them.

[Gabs · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book

[Jess Martys · Rating 4 out of 5]

The second graphic novel I chose is titled "Johnny Boo Does Something!" by James Kochalka. It was published in 2013 and the target audience is ages four to eight years. The genre is fantasy because it is about a ghost with magical powers. The whole book is make believe.

Text-to-Text: This book reminds me of the Casper books because they are also about a ghost who does a lot of make believe things such as having powers to talk and fly. Both books are also fantasy and follow similar story lines of interacting with people.

Text-to-Self: The way I relate to this book is when I was younger and loved books with made up stories and magic powers. Although they were never real stories, I enjoyed reading them. This would be a book I would have enjoyed reading when I was younger.

Text-to-World: There are people in this world that deal with the believing in ghosts or not. This book is similar to the world of people that believe they exist, but the actions that Johnny does, don't actually happen in real life.

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Johnny Boo Does Something, which is nothing, because if you usually do Something, then doing Nothing is doing Something. This is the wonderful logic that makes this little series so delightful!!

I don't always laugh out loud at children's books, but these are just as much for adults as children, even if they aren't of the literary status of Harry Potter or Winnie the Pooh.

Johnny is a ghost, although as you can see from the cover, he isn't a ghost in the Casper line. He has a "pet" ghost named Squiggle who has Squiggle Power,just like Johnny has Boo Power. But they're the kind of powers that kids can have - Boo Power means shouting Boo! really loud. Squiggle Power is looping around making squiggles in the air.

Other really funny parts are the extremely dry, but exceptionally funny, humor throughout. Johnny insists that ice cream is found in holes, not refrigerators. If it "lived" in refrigerators, it would have to wear a little fuzzy sweater. He takes Squiggle to Hole 25, which he says is the best ice cream hole. Squiggle makes a throw-away remark wondering if it's better than Hole 24B?

I HAD to laugh out loud! You will too, but don't think you have to have a child to read it to. Indulge yourself.

[Jen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this story. I think it would be very fun to read aloud to toddlers, with Johnny Boo being voiced in a regular tone and Squiggle high-pitched, as suggested. And Johnny's shock that most people keep ice cream in freezers rather than in holes was quite comical. :)

I also enjoyed the two bonus stories drawn by James Kochalka and his two sons. The boys' artwork was fun to see. :)

[Dawn · Rating 2 out of 5]

I very much like the style and design of these kids books, but the plotting and humor are clearly not meant for me.

[Kristie · Rating 5 out of 5]

i read this book to my kids tonight and i was cracking up laughing at every page. it suggest you read the one character in a high voice and it made reading it a lot more fun and the kids enjoyed it.

[Tanya · Rating 3 out of 5]

The kids like it. Very simple.

[Blayne M · Rating 5 out of 5]

The first book my 8 year old son has voluntarily read just for fun. We both really liked it. My son especially liked when the little ghost, Squiggle," pooted. Good, silly, fun.

[Aralia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another awesome Johnny boo book!

Since the first Johnny boo book, my daughter and I became big fans of the series. It's an awesome fun read for any age.