Tuesday, July 4, 2023

150. Flashback to the Awesome 80s


Flashback to the Awesome '80s! Patty Michaels. Illustrated by Sarah Rebar. 2023. [May] 32 pages. [Source: Library] [Nonfiction, early readers, beginning to read level 2]

First sentence: Let's go traveling back in time, way back...to the awesome 1980s! Get ready for a totally tubular ride as you learn about trends, fads, and other rad things that helped define the decade! Some of the most popular toys were Teddy Ruxpin, Transformers, Rubik's Cube, Cabbage Patch Kids, Simon, and Strawberry Shortcake. 

Premise/plot: This is a nonfiction title for young readers. It has three chapters or sections: "Totally Trendy!" "Far-Out Fashion and Fads," and "Say What?" The book ends by encouraging readers to find someone who grew up in the 1980s to find out more about what life was like. 

My thoughts: Does this one cover everything there is to cover? No. Of course not! Does it cover a good amount? Probably yes. I thought it had substance. More substance than I was initially expecting. Yes, it tries a little too hard with the language. I didn't agree 100% with every single little thing. (Like the assertion that many TVs made in the 80s did not have remote controls.) Some of the photographs are misleading, in my opinion. 

I do think the goal is to show how some things remain the same and how some things are very different.

Things that could have been included--but weren't--BARBIE, My Little Pony, Care Bears, Smurfs, Inspector Gadget, Muppet Babies, etc.

 

© 2023 Becky Laney of Young Readers

1 comment:

Ms. Yingling said...

Agree that most tvs in the 1980s had remotes, and how could you not include SMurfs and Care Bears? I'm ordering all three books in this series for my library because I think kids will like them... and their parents probably grew up then. I have at least two GRANDstudents!