TEK: The Modern Cave Boy

PreS-Gr 2—Tek, a so-called "modern" cave boy, lives among dinosaurs and other prehistoric creatures. He spends all his time engaging with technology, and neither his parents, his friends, nor his tribe's leaders can get him to do anything outside the cave. Only when Big Poppa volcano erupts and destroys Tek's tech does the cave boy interact with the world. The book is cleverly designed to appear as though readers are viewing it on a tablet screen for most of the story; once Tek's devices are destroyed, the tablet-style borders on the pages disappear and the illustrations become full bleed. While the style and whimsy of the images are as charming as expected from this Caldecott honoree, the tone is less so; this offering feels more like a nagging finger wag about using technology than a fun Stone Age tale. McDonnell has overshot the satirical tone he appears to have been aiming for and instead comes off as another adult lamenting kids these days and their technology.