By Julian Kenney
Fresh off his hot review of AMERICAN GARGOYLES, my now older-and-seasoned son has written his second review, for one of his most favorite things on earth, the new James Rallison THE ODD 1S OUT book. I had never heard of Rallison when my son asked me to pick up the first book at Target one day, and was immediately wary when I learned he is a YouTube sensation of some sort. I am most suspicious of YouTube content because it’s, you know, YouTube content, but perhaps sensing my weariness my son skipped me and went straight to 86-year old grampa to share his joy of the book — and grampa, who’s one of those guys who knows everything about jazz, poetry, Eugene McCarthy, Jean-Luc Godard, Hammer films and liberation theology, actually liked it, too. So I had to give Rallison props, even if I hadn’t succumbed to its charms.
So as a bit of quarantine therapy I ordered the new book for my son, and who better to discuss it than my son, turned-10-in-April, Julian. Everyone’s a critic, apparently!
I like James Rallison so much because he makes cool animations and his books and videos are funny and he discusses funny subjects and stories about what happens to him. He has a new book out “The Odd 1s Out: The First Sequel,” a sequel to The Odd 1s Out: How to be Cool and Other Things I Definitely Learned from Growing Up.”
I liked the first and second books the same. The first had chapters mostly based on his videos and the second focuses on stories and subjects he only put in the book. This gives a different style to each book. The second focuses a lot about nature stories like him climbing a mountain (for some reason). The first has stories on a lot of different subjects and is all over the place. I like them both equally.
The funniest part of the second book is “How We Got Our Second Dog, Poppy” about adopting Poppy, his West Highland Terrier. It was about why and how he adopted his dog. It is my favorite because it is really funny and the dogs in the book are cute. An honorable mention is another dog one, called “Dog Training.” It is about training dogs and about him training his dog Georgie. It is funny and I like dogs so that is why I like this one as well.
The best part of the first book is “Science Fair.” It is a whole chapter of him complaining about the school science fair and I loved it. It was really funny and it was also already a video on his channel. That is why I like this one. The chapter is only a little different from the video, though.
My first favorite YouTube video by James Rallison, found on his YouTube page TheOdd1sOut, is “The YouTube Battle Royale.” This is the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GEFPqEVlKEk The video is about him and other YouTubers played in an airsoft battle. I personally like airsoft battles. He made a lot of funny jokes as well. My next favorite is “Our Hamsters.” Here’s the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mAx3z6nJpqU&t=20s He talks about the history of his hamsters and talks about what happened to his different hamsters.
James Rallison is 24. His favorite comic is Garfield. He also writes comics. In his second book he hints that he likes mac n’ cheese. He has two dogs (one died). The YouTube videos are funny animations. They are usually 8 minutes. This will give you a head start on him before watching his videos and reading his books.
Apparently my son has set up his own YouTube channel and he warns, I mean, tells, us it will be full of wrestling and video game posts. If you’re curious, check out Julian Games on YouTube– there’s almost nothing there, thank goodness:
Here is his intro video. I guess this is the KING LEAR of his home quarantine! Anyway, apparently the new Rallison book is another winner! If you’ve got some free time this quarantine, check it out. Or start your own YouTube channel.
Just remember to comb your hair before doing your introductory video.
*James Rallison’s Youtube Channel TheOdd1sOut has over 13 million subscribers and 114 videos with millions of views per video. The Odd 1s Out: How to Be Cool and Other Things I Definitely Learned from Growing Up was ranked #12 in the “trade paperback” category on Publishers Weekly’s August 13, 2018 bestseller list and is available, along with TheOdd1sOut: The First Sequel, on TheOdd1sOut website, amazon.com, and bookstores.
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