Tag: narwhal

Caramel’s first review ever for the book bunnies blog was the first book of Ben Clanton’s Narwhal and Jelly series,  Narwhal: The Unicorn of the Sea! Since then, he has reviewed five more books in the series: Super Narwhal and Jelly Jolt, Peanut Butter and Jelly, Narwhal’s Otter Friend, Happy Narwhalidays, and Narwhal’s School of Awesomeness. Today he talks about the seventh book in the series: Narwhalicorn and Jelly. As usual, Sprinkles is taking notes and asking questions.

Sprinkles: So Caramel, it has been a while since we talked about Narwhal and Jelly. What are they up to in this book?

Caramel: Narwhal becomes a unicorn and his name is now Narwhalicorn.

S: That is the title of the book! But wait, how does he become a unicorn?

C: I think he wishes it upon a star and it happens.

S: Hmm, that is interesting. But unicorns live on land.

C: Yes, I know. And so he goes out of the water, on land, and Jelly comes along, though not exactly willingly.

S: But how does Jelly breathe out of the water?

C: He gets a bowl. A fish bowl. They call it a jellyfish bowl.

S: I guess that makes sense. Then is most of the book out of the water this time?

C: Yep.

S: Now the earlier books in the series always had a lot of fun facts about ocean life. Does this book have any facts like that too?

C: Yes it does.

S: About unicorns?

C: Real unicorns.

S: Wait, are there real unicorns? My understanding for all these years was that there are no real unicorns.

C: They mean things with one horn. Like there is something called a Siberian Unicorn. It was a rhino but went extinct.

S: Hmm, I did not know about those.

C: I did. I think we saw them in the Walking With Prehistoric Beasts documentary.

S: Oh, I must have forgotten. But I watched that series only once. I know you and Marshmallow have seen it several times.

C: Yep. We love that documentary!

S: Okay, back to Narwhal and Jelly. Did you like this book as much as the earlier ones?

C: Yes!

S: I know you have been reading other types of books these days, so I was wondering if you felt like this was too childish for you.

C: Narwhal and Jelly can never be too childish for me! I kind of feel like they are my friends.

S: In some sense they are. You started reviewing books with their first adventure. And you love facts, too, so these books were right up your alley.

C: Yes, and they still are. This book is also factful. And funny.

S: Okay, so I know already two of the three words you would use to describe this book. What is a third one?

C: Unicorny.

S: Do you mean it is corny? Not sure that is a good word.

C: No. I said unicorny and I meant unicorny. It has unicorns, so it is unicorny. Get it?

S: I guess I do. So Narwhal and Jelly find out about all kinds of other animals with single horns?

C: Yes.

S: Sounds good. So you know that there will be an eighth book from Narwhal and Jelly soon, right?

C: Yep, and you know that I will have to read it!

S: Okay, we will find a way to get a copy. Don’t worry.

C: Good. It is about Halloween, I think, so maybe we can review it around Halloween this year.

S: Makes sense to me! Okay, let us wrap up this review then. What would you like to tell our readers Caramel?

C: Stay tuned for more book bunny reviews!

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!