I understand, I really do. If you're worried about getting kids interested in reading, of course the idea of using characters they're familiar with from toys and television to lure them into the world of books. Makes some kind of sense.
But then, it also makes sense that "instilling a love of reading" is only worthwhile if the reading in question is actually worth reading.
Unlike this pile of tepid, vacuous, vapid, and let's-not-forget-pandering tripe (no offense to the tripe):
It's nonsensical, but not in the charming or whimsical way that - oh, I dunno - ANY OTHER BOOK EVER WRITTEN is.
This book, and each of the thousands of nearly-identical books for boys*and girls just plain Doesn't Make Sense.
I understand the school library's quandary: they get these books at ridiculously low prices. Real books cost real money. These books - as far as I know - only cost brain cells.
So rather than teaching a love of reading, what book publishers - and the Scholastic program in particular - are really doing is generously subsidizing the cost of library books by sending money to Mattel for licensing in order to interest kids in the incredibly worthwhile activity of Reading Random Words That Loosely Relate to Pictures of Products Sold by Mattel.
Sounds legit to me.
*I'm looking at you, Ninjago
--UPDATE: Dawn forced me to create a postcard to send to Scholastic. Blame her.--
