Reviewing Children's Books from The Skwerdlock Series by Pops Jamison

Our girls have always been book worms--and we love finding new children's books for young readers. Recently, we had the opportunity to read and review two books from The Skwerdlock series by Pops Jamison. While both girls are a bit old for this series--they both volunteer at the local library and work with young children frequently in the library's "Reading Buddies" program.  What did we think of Meet the Skwerdlock! and I Saw the Skwerdlock! by Pops Jamison?  Read Madelyn's thoughts on the two books and my thoughts summarized at the end!

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About the Book

As "Pops", John shares the stories he told his daughter years ago, and now tells his grandchildren today. Stories of fun and wonder, sometimes crazy, but always with a smile.

"Meet the Skwerdlock!" was created to help spark a love of books, help learn a few words, and just have an excuse to sit in the recliner and enjoy time together.

Pops says:

I really enjoy seeing nicely done illustrations in books. However, one of the goals of this book is to show that you don’t have to be a professional artist or illustrator to create books.

Children are filled with great stories, and I want to encourage them to write those stories down, and bring them to life with their own pictures. If they end up looking really, really great, that’s just fine.

But if they end up looking like mine do, that’s perfectly ok too!

Our Review

Madelyn's Thoughts on the Skwerdlock Books

Meet the Skwerdlock is a story of how a young girl named Trish met the Skwerdlock, a Dr. Suess like animal. I would recommend this book based on vocabulary and such to an average second or third grader. The book doesn't teach lessons or offer any extra ideas for group discussions--it's just a story about a creature to read for fun.  When I volunteer at the library, we spend some time considering the cover of a picture book before we read it so that the kids can make predictions and use cover clues to guess what the book may be about.  The cover of this book doesn't give much insights on the story.

Would we recommend Meet the Skwerdlock?  It is a cute story that is easy enough for kids to read with bright illustrations and a simple story line.  For parents looking for a something fun to read without a deeper teaching point--this is simple, fun story.  

Buy the Book

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 About the Book

As "Pops", John shares the stories he told his daughter years ago, and now tells his grandchildren today. Stories of fun and wonder, sometimes crazy, but always with a smile.

"I Saw the Skwerdlock" is the second Skwerdlock story created to help spark a love of books, help learn a few words, and just have an excuse to sit in the recliner and enjoy time together.

Pops says:

The Skwerdlock has been very special in our family for a long time, and I hope others will have the same kind of fun. This is a fun story to read together, and especially fun when your young readers can read it to you! There is no moral, no lesson, just a fun story to relax and enjoy!

Children are filled with great stories, and I want to encourage them to write those stories down, and bring them to life with their own pictures. If they end up looking really, really great, that’s just fine.

But if they end up looking like mine do, that’s perfectly OK too!

Our Review

Madelyn's Thoughts on I Saw the Skwerdlock
I Saw the Skwerdlock is more of a rhyming book showing illustrations to go with the rhymes of the Skwerdlock doing different activities or hanging out with his wildlife friends. This book would be a good choice for pre-readers through first graders because learning phonics and rhyming sounds is crucial for children learning to read or still developing reading skills. If I were a young child, I would be more likely to choose this book over Meet the Skwerdlock because the cover shows a picture of the back of the Skwerdlock’s head and I would be curious to find out what this creature is. Pops Jamison gives a Dr. Suess like feel throughout the whole book through the rhymes and the character’s human-like actions. If someone were to hand me this book and tell me it was by Dr. Suess, I would certainly believe them. But, if I had not read the first book to find out that the Skwerdlock could change color like a chameleon or change size, then I would have thought that the illustrator was inconsistent since the Skwerdlock looks different on various pages throughout this book.

Would we recommend I Saw the Skwerdlock?  We both liked this story the best of the two books.  The rhymes were fun, easy to read and created a cute little image of the title character.  We think this book is well suited for beginning readers to read alone or as a fun picture book for a toddler/preschool storytime.  

Buy the Book

 Amazon

Would we recommend the Skwerdlock books by Pops Jamison?  The Skwerdlock series offers some cute little stories with simple words, simple concepts and bright, fun illustrations.  There are no great morals to the stories.  They are just simple, clean fun stories to encourage little readers (and writers) to use their storytelling imaginations to create stories of their own.  These make fun stories for family read along time and I Saw the Skwerdlock is great for rhyming practice with learning readers. We would recommend them for younger children--and we would encourage parents to combine these books with creative drawing and writing activities for little ones. 

About the Author

As Pops Jamison, John shares the stories he told his daughter years ago, and now tells his grandchildren today. Stories of fun and wonder, sometimes crazy but always with a smile. I Can't Paint My Dog! was created to read to the grandchildren, to spark a love of books and help them learn a few words. Today, they sit on his lap and read it to him.

John publishes his non-fiction works as John B. Jamison, and his fiction works as J. B. Jamison.

Pops lives near New Berlin, Illinois, just down the road from his grandkids.