In the middle of a heat wave raking the Florida coast, Jesse, Josie, Jack & their two parents decide that a day at the beach is in order. Noticing the broken air conditioning unit, the family eagerly scrambles to prepare all the things that they will need to enjoy the beach.
 
This book confused me at first because it reads as older than a story that would be intended for children. I think that it’s important & positive to include vernacular that seeks to teach readers something new. However, within the first chapters of this story, we see scientific terminology when referencing a centipede & I was curious if a young reader would be eager to pursue a story filled with terms they couldn’t pronounce.

Ultimately, I think that the illustrations crafted by Arina Krivtsova, lend a huge helping hand to the story. Because so much is taking place within this book—every chapter a new adventure with a new call to action—the colourful images that litter the pages of this book eases the read. For those readers who might not be able to follow along with the words, I think that the inclusion of so many vivid images will lead them to want to explore this book.
 
That being said, there is a lot happening within this plot. The twin siblings engage in a challenge to find clean towels & boogie boards in time for the family to head to the beach, with the promise of ice cream as their reward. Then, there is the scramble for ice cream flavours & fun in the water. It made me question who this book might be for. Perhaps had it included longer chapters I might say this would be perfect for Middle-Grade readers.

I do think that this story is a good introduction to complex plots. Given the fact that the family is so diverse, numbered, & dimensionally sound; readers can easily reference the development of so many occurrences in tandem with the illustrations. Should a reader be moving towards chapter formatted books, this would be a good introduction to longer literature that asks a reader to remember ages, geography, characteristics, events, & others.

The story is sweet, diverse, encompassing & complex enough to open the mind of the reader to all the possibilities that can be found in the Fantasy genre as in life. I look forward to seeing what other books come of this series.
 
Thank you to NetGalley & Megan Lucker for the free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

Thank you Netgalley and BookBuzz for a Digital Advanced Reader’s Copy in exchange for an honest review.


This is the kind of book I loved to read when I was a young reader and made me enjoy the time I spent with books. Indeed, Alligator Boogie reminds me of both Geronimo Stilton series and Scooby-Doo series. And that's for me is good because I hope children will find that spark of joy in reading with this book.

The story is simple and cute but everything is embellished with beautiful sketches of the text and engaging and evocative graphic look. Which is important if your public are young readers that are starting to read, because I think you have to keep drawing their attention and at the same time incite their creativity.
Something I really liked but at the sime time was surprised to find is a little glossary at the end of the book explaining some of the words used in the story.

In the end, for me this is the perfect book to gift to children: either in order to read the book with them or to let them discover it by themselves and start reading on their own since the book features easily allow it.
As someone whose their mothertounge isn't English, I also recommend this book to who wants to start reading in English, I would say the level is an A2.

Finally, as an Italian, I was pleased to read that a character has a "friendly Italian accent".

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for letting me review this book. This was a fun and quick read. The illustrations were great and popped on the pages. Everyone decides to head to the beach to cool off along with getting ice cream. The kids meet alligators, which at first, freaks them out and then they realize, the gators just want to have fun as well.

Alligator Boogie is an early chapter book that consists of 4 short chapters. It tells the story of twins Jesse and Josie and their older (teen) brother Jack. On a hot day when the AC is not working, the three siblings head out to the beach. When Josie and Jesse are swimming they almost get eaten by an alligator, but they soon realize it was all a misunderstanding because he is a pescatarian, he doesn't eat preteens! Each of the four chapters is only a few pages long, has lots of pictures and some fun expressive text to emphasize important words and add an element of visual interest to the story. I think that young readers will love this book and can definitely see it in my Grade 3 classroom library. It is visually stimulating, the content is funny and interesting and it is a nice transition text between picture books and chapter books, everything young middle grade readers want and need! I would recommend this book to parents and teachers of children in the 6-10 range. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for giving me the opportunity to read and review this book!

Answering the call to adventure! A fun family friendly modern day fantasy. Looking forward to seeing more in the series.

This is a fun early bridging reader book. It contains 3 chapters.
Pretty illustrations and funny story. A relaxing read for summer!

Alligator Boogie is a really fun, adventurous book. I loved all the various illustrations, which were bright and fun. I liked the story and all the different animals featured.