Caramel reviews Narwhal’s School of Awesomeness by Ben Clanton

Caramel chose to talk about the first book of Ben Clanton’s Narwhal and Jelly series,  Narwhal: The Unicorn of the Sea!, in his very first review for the book bunnies blog. Then through the next few months, he reviewed Super Narwhal and Jelly Jolt, Peanut Butter and Jelly, Narwhal’s Otter Friend, and finally Happy Narwhalidays. So it was natural that when he heard about a sixth book in the series titled Narwhal’s School of Awesomeness, he thought he’d better get his paws on a copy and review it, too. This is exactly what he does in this post. As usual, Sprinkles is taking notes and asking followup questions.

Sprinkles: So you must be feeling pretty good having gotten your paws on yet another Narwhal and Jelly adventure!

Caramel: Yup! It is fin-tastic to be reading about these two once again.

S: I see what you did there! Fin-tastic is one of those words Clanton uses, created by slightly changing a word to have ocean-life connotations.

C: Yep yep yep.

S: So will you tell us anything about the book?

C: Narwhal and Jelly are back and Narwhal becomes a teacher.

S: How does he do that?

C: Well, one of the fish school teachers is sick, and so he goes home, and then Narwhal takes over the school. He’s not told to do it, but he just does it himself.

S: So he just decides to be a teacher and gets going, right? That’s interesting.

C: Yes. And what’s more interesting is what he teaches. He teaches wafflematics, which is math + waffles.

S: That sounds deliciously nerdy!

C: Yes. And there are other classes, mostly fake classes of course. Narwhal does not know a lot, because I think he is young, kind of like me, so he is making things up as he goes along.

S: But there are still a lot of real facts in the book, right? Like in the earlier Narwhal and Jelly books?

C: Yes, and you know I love my facts.

S: I know you do. So did you learn anything new from this book?

C: Yes. Did you know what a group of snails is called?

S: No.

C: It’s called a walk. And a group of sharks is called a shiver.

S: I did not know any of those.

C: Yes, and then there is a picture of a hammerhead shark and he is really funny, talking like a pirate…

S: So the books are factful and funny again, right?

C: Yes! At some point Narwhal says “This is what I’m chalking about!” You see, talking becomes chalking because he is now a teacher?

S: Yes, I see. I’m glad you are enjoying this book just as much as you did the earlier ones.

C: <giggles> Wait, what? Sorry, I was reading the book again.

S: Okay, maybe we will end the review so you can get back to the book once more. But before that, tell me a third word to describe the book. You already have factful and funny.

C: Colorful. Because the book is very colorful. They are adorable fishies and I love them!

S: That is so cool that you liked this book so much!

C: Yes. It is o-fish-ally awesome!

S: Okay, then why don’t we wrap it up? What do you want to tell our readers?

C: Stay tuned for more book bunny reviews!