Poems about middle school threats with excellent illustrations. Carson Clare’s Trail Guide to Avoiding Death has poems about everyday fears like bullies and sharks along with less common ones like Australia, old people and cars.
Fears abound in the Trail Guide. Many are imaginatively described. Revenge is a zoo of paranormal beasts begging to be set free. The school cafeteria includes crawling rice pilaf and chili that smells like your foot. Old people hit a little too close to home. Each fear is rated and practical survival tips are given. Many are funny such as for robots:
Danger Rating: We’re doomed
Survival Tips:
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Stay off the grid
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KILL ALL ROBOTS!
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If tip above doesn’t work: OBEY ALL ROBOTS!
You have to love a book when it depicts the expulsion of Adam and Eve from the garden of Eden as a “sweet lease deal rescission.” 4 stars! I can’t wait to see how the authors deal with my most prevalent fear, Algebra, in volume 2 of Carson Clare’s Trail Guide to Avoiding Death.
Thanks to the authors, the independent publisher, Ninth Planet Press, and Goodreads for providing me a copy through the Goodreads giveaways program.
There is another book by this author reviewed here.