Rocket Town by Bob Logan Review

Rocket Town
by Bob Logan
ISBN 978-1-4022-4186-4
Publisher: Sourcebooks Jabberwocky

About:

In this fun departure from the traditional board book themes for boys, Bob Logan’s Rocket Town tells the story of an astronaut and his canine companion as they drive an old pickup through Rocket Town—an amazing town filled with, yes, rockets!

Each colorful spread sports an eye-dazzling array of rockets, from big to small, fast to slow, practical to extremely silly—a taxi rocket, a police rocket, a school bus rocket, and even a rocket that looks like a shark! The final pages are a countdown to blastoff that is sure to thrill young readers.
 
Author and illustrator Bob Logan has worked as a story artist on feature animations such as Madagascar and Open Season, as well as Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs and is currently working on the upcoming Puss in Boots! Logan’s picture book, The Sea of Bath, charmed readers with fun and sweet illustrations, and Rocket Town will delight parents and children alike with colorful and imaginative rockets. The Pasadena Star News called it “...a blast for children ages 1 – 5... Simple text and retro-pop illustrations make the journey one kids (and parents) will want to take again and again.”

You can also see the profile piece that the Ventura County Star just did on Bob, giving a bit more of his background in the tv/movie industry and showing some of the very cute art from Rocket Town:
http://www.vcstar.com/news/2011/mar/12/thousand-oaks-man-publishing-childrens-book-of/

My Review:

This is an amazingly colorful and fun book that I wish had been around when my boys were little. The graphics, while futuristic, remind me of the books I liked when I was a kid back in the 70s. So, I think some of my enjoyment of this book is nostalgic.

Each two page layout has it’s own color scheme and design. There is so much to look at and details to take in, there’s no way you can go through the book only once. I think that’s part of the appeal for me.

The story itself has a contrasting element to it:

• fast/slow
• big/small
• up/down
• etc

Overall, I think this is a very cool book that I believe any little boy would love to get his hands on!

About the Author:

Bob Logan grew up in Baltimore, MD, selling his Star Wars drawings for kids’ milk money to buy books at the Scholastic fair. He studied animation at Edinboro University of Pennsylvania. Most recently Bob has worked as a story artist on feature animations, including Madagascar, Open Season, and Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. He lives in Thousand Oaks, CA, and enjoys spending time with his wife, son, and two pugs. Bob is addicted to all of the LEGO games on the Wii, but enjoys them best when he plays with his on.

*I received a copy of the book for review. The opinions expressed are my own and never influenced by the company.