Picture Book Wednesday: Ninja! Attack of the Clan

NArree Chung's Ninja holds a special place in my heart. Not only is it one of my favorite read alouds with my youngest daughter, but it really taught me how upper elementary can find love for a picture book. I can still picture a 4th grade student name Onya, begging me to replay the book trailer for Ninja again. The rest of the class responded with, "Yes" and "Please, Mrs. Ralph?" We were watching book trailers that represented various genres in preparation for a class assignment. We watched it a second time, and then they begged for a third. I let them watch it 15+ more times during check out time. Our hold list for Ninja remained very long and it consisted of mostly 4th and 5th graders.

I was so excited to find out about a follow up:

Our fearless ninja, Maxwell, is seeking out someone to play with him, but everyone in his "clan" (family) is too busy. He resigns himself to being alone , but a fabulous surprise awaits him as he goes to eat his dinner. Chung takes on a subject to which almost every child can relate. As a parent, I cringed guiltily at times when I dismissed my children when they wanted to play. The panels and speech bubbles of the layout give the book huge kid appeal.

My own ninja said: Hey, I've never seen this book before!

Me: That's because it just came out today.

Christine: I want to read it.

And she did.