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COZMO'S DAY OFF

Name: COZMO'S DAY OFF
Author: Ayars Animation

developed by Ayars Animation ‧ RELEASE DATE: N/A

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Clearly produced and filled with Hollywood-quality animation, voice talent and multimedia features, this retro-futurist app is out of this world in many ways. Like Jack and the Beanstalk, another winner from Ayars Animation, the story of little green space creature Cozmo's trip to his office is packed with fun. While it doesn't have a rich traditional story to lean on, as Jack did, this app goes wild with such inventions as an adorable robot chef (who doubles as a popcorn machine), zooming personal spaceships and bulbous cityscapes. The art style is reminiscent of 1950s imaginings of the space-bound future; metal antennae and gas pumps exist alongside space travelers and aliens. The story, told in (pedestrian) rhyme, is narrated by an ecstatic-sounding announcer. In an inspired bit of programming, that narration, or reader narration recorded by the app, can be pitch-adjusted with a simple slider. It's an unnecessary but very fun feature older parents who may once have played their LPs at 45 RPM will appreciate. As hard as the text tries ("Now Cozmo hopped in his swift little ship / 'Buckle your seatbelt,' the rocket would quip' "), it can't compare to the lush visuals or the plethora of elements on screen that fly, explode or, in one memorable instance, fill the screen with fire-extinguisher foam. The app’s comprehensive list of options may be daunting, but the developer has thought of everything: It includes a help document for parents that reveals every hidden nugget in the app's 10 pages. It turns out there are more than 100. Few story apps are as ambitious, as eye-catching or as playful as Cozmo's. (iPad storybook app. 4-12)

Pub Date: N/A

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: N/A

Review Posted Online: Jan. 12, 2011

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2011

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HANSEL AND GRETEL

by Stephen King ; illustrated by Maurice Sendak ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 2, 2025

Menacing and most likely to appeal to established fans of its co-creators.

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Existing artwork from an artistic giant inspires a fairy-tale reimagination by a master of the horror genre.

In King’s interpretation of a classic Brothers Grimm story, which accompanies set and costume designs that the late Sendak created for a 1997 production of Engelbert Humperdinck’s opera, siblings Hansel and Gretel survive abandonment in the woods and an evil witch’s plot to gobble them up before finding their “happily ever after” alongside their father. Prose with the reassuring cadence of an old-timey tale, paired with Sendak’s instantly recognizable artwork, will lull readers before capitalizing on these creators’ knack for injecting darkness into seemingly safe spaces. Gaping faces loom in crevices of rocks and trees, and a gloomy palette of muted greens and ocher amplify the story’s foreboding tone, while King never sugarcoats the peach-skinned children’s peril. Branches with “clutching fingers” hide “the awful enchanted house” of a “child-stealing witch,” all portrayed in an eclectic mix of spot and full-bleed images. Featuring insults that might strike some as harsh (“idiot,” “fool”), the lengthy, dense text may try young readers’ patience, and the often overwhelmingly ominous mood feels more pitched to adults—particularly those familiar with King and Sendak—but an introduction acknowledges grandparents as a likely audience, and nostalgia may prompt leniency over an occasional disconnect between words and art.

Menacing and most likely to appeal to established fans of its co-creators. (Picture book. 4-8)

Pub Date: Sept. 2, 2025

ISBN: 9780062644695

Page Count: 48

Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins

Review Posted Online: Aug. 15, 2025

Categories:

CHILDREN'S FAMILY

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WRECKING BALL

From the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series , Vol. 14

by Jeff Kinney ; illustrated by Jeff Kinney ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 5, 2019

Readers can still rely on this series to bring laughs.

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The Heffley family’s house undergoes a disastrous attempt at home improvement.

When Great Aunt Reba dies, she leaves some money to the family. Greg’s mom calls a family meeting to determine what to do with their share, proposing home improvements and then overruling the family’s cartoonish wish lists and instead pushing for an addition to the kitchen. Before bringing in the construction crew, the Heffleys attempt to do minor maintenance and repairs themselves—during which Greg fails at the work in various slapstick scenes. Once the professionals are brought in, the problems keep getting worse: angry neighbors, terrifying problems in walls, and—most serious—civil permitting issues that put the kibosh on what work’s been done. Left with only enough inheritance to patch and repair the exterior of the house—and with the school’s dismal standardized test scores as a final straw—Greg’s mom steers the family toward moving, opening up house-hunting and house-selling storylines (and devastating loyal Rowley, who doesn’t want to lose his best friend). While Greg’s positive about the move, he’s not completely uncaring about Rowley’s action. (And of course, Greg himself is not as unaffected as he wishes.) The gags include effectively placed callbacks to seemingly incidental events (the “stress lizard” brought in on testing day is particularly funny) and a lampoon of after-school-special–style problem books. Just when it seems that the Heffleys really will move, a new sequence of chaotic trouble and property destruction heralds a return to the status quo. Whew.

Readers can still rely on this series to bring laughs. (Graphic/fiction hybrid. 8-12)