Certainly entertaining and visually appealing, but the mystery is resolved through chance rather than clear detective work.
With the appeal of a Saturday-morning cartoon, this app will draw in kids—but leave them wishing for more.
James wakes up one night as “a terrifying sound echoed through the air.” The next day, James discovers his mother in tears, for all of the carrots have been stolen from her vegetable garden, where James finds a monster’s footprints. With his trusty ferret’s help, James follows one clue after another to discover the culprit. Unfortunately, the logical connections among clues seem tenuous, and the odd sounds James hears at the beginning never are explained. The story progresses in animated chapters, only pulling the reader in to interact at isolated points. This puts the reader in a passive stance, like watching a cartoon. The illustrations evoke the goofy humor of Scooby Doo, but the pacing is more controlled and suitable to a storybook app. The app defaults to a text-free, voice-only presentation, but there is a pull-down option to show “subtitles” if children want to read along.
Certainly entertaining and visually appealing, but the mystery is resolved through chance rather than clear detective work. (iPad storybook app. 4-8)Pub Date: Feb. 27, 2013
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: Cricket Design
Review Posted Online: April 9, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2013
Continuing to find inspiration in the work of Virginia Lee Burton, Munro Leaf and other illustrators of the past, Long (The Little Engine That Could, 2005) offers an aw-shucks friendship tale that features a small but hardworking tractor (“putt puff puttedy chuff”) with a Little Toot–style face and a big-eared young descendant of Ferdinand the bull who gets stuck in deep, gooey mud. After the big new yellow tractor, crowds of overalls-clad locals and a red fire engine all fail to pull her out, the little tractor (who had been left behind the barn to rust after the arrival of the new tractor) comes putt-puff-puttedy-chuff-ing down the hill to entice his terrified bovine buddy successfully back to dry ground. Short on internal logic but long on creamy scenes of calf and tractor either gamboling energetically with a gaggle of McCloskey-like geese through neutral-toned fields or resting peacefully in the shade of a gnarled tree (apple, not cork), the episode will certainly draw nostalgic adults. Considering the author’s track record and influences, it may find a welcome from younger audiences too. (Picture book. 5-8)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2009
ISBN: 978-0-399-25248-8
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Philomel
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2009
SEEN & HEARD
Not enough tricks to make this a treat.
Another holiday title (How To Catch the Easter Bunny by Adam Wallace, illustrated by Elkerton, 2017) sticks to the popular series’ formula.
Rhyming four-line verses describe seven intrepid trick-or-treaters’ efforts to capture the witch haunting their Halloween. Rhyming roadblocks with toolbox is an acceptable stretch, but too often too many words or syllables in the lines throw off the cadence. Children familiar with earlier titles will recognize the traps set by the costume-clad kids—a pulley and box snare, a “Tunnel of Tricks.” Eventually they accept her invitation to “floss, bump, and boogie,” concluding “the dance party had hit the finale at last, / each dancing monster started to cheer! / There’s no doubt about it, we have to admit: / This witch threw the party of the year!” The kids are diverse, and their costumes are fanciful rather than scary—a unicorn, a dragon, a scarecrow, a red-haired child in a lab coat and bow tie, a wizard, and two space creatures. The monsters, goblins, ghosts, and jack-o'-lanterns, backgrounded by a turquoise and purple night sky, are sufficiently eerie. Still, there isn’t enough originality here to entice any but the most ardent fans of Halloween or the series. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Not enough tricks to make this a treat. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Aug. 2, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-72821-035-3
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Sourcebooks Wonderland
Review Posted Online: May 10, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2022
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