Jaden Toussaint, the Greatest Episode 1: The Quest for Screen Time

Love the characterization. Creatively written. The book is clever, and will make adults smile as well as children ( although some jokes will go right over the kids’ heads). The series reminds me of Barbara Park’s Junie B. Jones, but with a smarty pants. It’s refreshing to find an inspirational series about a black boy for younger readers; material like this is hard to come by. I just wish the main character was a little more accessible. The pages at the beginning show the facts on JT and his family (with awesome illustrations) but there are questions left unanswered, and because the author doesn’t spell out the problem at the beginning, young readers with limited inference from skills are left confused. We know, for example, that Jaden Toussant has a big brain, but it never explains how he got such a big brain, or how he’s so good at reading if he avoids it at all costs. After playing on his dad’s phone for ten minutes at the park, he falls in love with screen time and spends the rest of the book trying to get more. It seems that his parents and sister never let him have any screen time, apart from those ten minutes. It doesn’t explain why the rules are so strict, or why he didn’t know about screen time until he was 5. It also seems that he doesn’t succeed in getting screen time for half a school year! His opportunity finally presents itself in the form of a tic tac toe homework sheet that includes a computer square. However, his dad won’t let JT select the computer option. JT’s humorous solution is to petition for more homework!Despite the fact that this is about a kindergartener, the listening level is more appropriate for 2nd grade and up. My kindergartner did not understand the story and lost interest, but my 2nd grader liked it. However, he thought it was written for 1st graders because of the text size.I love the concept but wish the main character was more accessible to young kids.

This book was hilarious and it was humor I think both kids and adults will enjoy. Dumas has really captured the inner thoughts of a young kid in a way that is both funny and serious. Even as an adult I throughly enjoyed reading this.The chapter breaks are perfect. Just as Jaden has an idea or something new needs to be introduced the current chapter ends and the next chapter begins, complete with chapter title that repeats the introduction. So for example Jaden is talking about wanting to get more screen time to play games online and look up facts on the internet. He’s tried begging and asking various people in his family, but nothing has worked. All that changes with Miss Bates, the text says. Cut to the next chapter entitled “Miss Bates Class”. Most of the chapters are like this and, to me, it reads like good comic timing.The story itself is probably pretty relatable to kids. Jaden has had a taste of screen time and is trying to finagle some more when his teacher assigns homework. One task they can choose for homework is time on the computer, but Jaden’s parents still say no screen time. Jaden decides to create a petition for all the Kindergarteners to sign asking for more screen time on the homework sheet in order to force his parents to give him some. Also, there is a ninja dance break.The illustrations are fine. There are little nods to some great African Americans and blacks on the wall of Jaden’s room. The beginning also starts out a little graphic-novelish with sparse text scattered around the illustrations as Jaden’s family is introduced. They provide good breaks for the beginning reader. Also a bonus, the trim size is more like a big-kid chapter book (it’s still a little large). Despite the easy language and format it looks less like an easy reader and more like what older kids would want to pick up.Since our public library didn’t have this one I bought the first book, but I will be purchasing the next couple “episodes” this year. I highly recommend this to collections that need some easy, easy chapter books that look more grown up. I can’t emphasize enough how kid-like the logic is in the story and how that makes it so appealing for a child audience with a good sense of humor and an adult audience who is familiar with dealing with that logic. Kids love humorous books and this fits the bill perfectly.

This is a really clever book, and I would suggest it will appeal to very young 'kindergarten' age children to about 6-7 years olds.The illustrations are very engaging with and the way the book is laid out with text, bubbles, arrows and a very quirky style, will bring young readers in quickly. It is almost a little bit like reading a comic book which made it lots of fun.On top of that - the story is great. It demonstrates hard work, tenacity and passion often pay off, and Jaden is such a likeable character with his fun ideas.Great story!

Meet Jaden Toussaint, he isn't like you and me. He doesn't like to read, except with a book torch but has a great chance to get what he really wants, screen time. Access to a computer or phone so that he can have fun and not have to read a book. A fun little story that really was easy to read and had moments of shaking your head in wonder at the skill of the drawings and the story combined with them. A little advanced with thinking for his age but you never know if he is a genius hidden in plain sight.

I chose this rating because of the story lineIt's an amazing book and I recommend to anyone for a read . This book is not only about a very smart educated young boy who is very smart and is good at making decisions but is also a independent not who listens and does his job swell as his own ideasGreat book I recommend to read 😁👍👍👍

Jaden just happens to resemble my son, afro and all. I snapped the book up and my son loved the character and his pets but was adverse to reading. So I read aloud and soon he became intrigued by jaden's quest for screen time-something he relates to, lol. He found Jaden so relatable that he would remind me to read it to him. Also referring to using the tablet as screen time.As a parent I'm so happy that my son has found a character that he can grow up with that also looks like him. The book is so witty and intelligently written but not to the detriment of having a lil fun. This book will appeal to children aged 6-11. And it's a book that grows with your child's reading abilities. Starting off as a bedtime read by the parent to them slowly taking over and reading during their own free time.We found out the next episode-book- was available and my son made sure to remind me for 5 days straight. As a parent I'm super happy he's engaged in reading such a great book that even cuts into his screen time :)Thank you Marti for your vivid imagination and vibrant words. We can't wait till we have a little Jaden Figurine to go with our budding book collection.

My sons reaction was amazing "he looks like me!!!" He soon found out that jaden had a similar personality and interests to him too. He loved reading this book. I've ordered the second. It's really well written and it's nice to find a book with a black lead character. Children need to be represented.