Jacques and Missy make good travel companions, and the sights in Costa Rica are lovely, but making it through the app can...
Friends Jacques and Missy, a cat and a mouse respectively, find adventure when Missy loses her red scarf in the air, forcing them to land their yellow prop plane in Costa Rica.
From here, the story branches in a few directions, allowing the pair to explore a pond, a volcano, a jungle where sloths live and other parts of a national park. Games and challenges emerge to move the story along—not all are easy, however, and they must be solved in order to continue the story. Even more frustrating is that there’s no way to turn pages. Readers must instead look for clues in the text or a small flash on the screen to figure out where to tap to move ahead. Sometimes that can trigger unnecessary and annoying backtracking. A small blue tab that offers options disappears unless readers remember where to tap. There, readers find options to mute sounds and elicit labels and facts (written in three ascending levels of difficulty), as well as a seek-and-find challenge and a world map. The app offers no spoken narration, but there are plenty of opportunities for parents to read along with kids and to share new words and facts.
Jacques and Missy make good travel companions, and the sights in Costa Rica are lovely, but making it through the app can sometimes feel less like a vacation and more like homework. (Requires iOS 7 and above.) (iPad storybook app. 5-9)Pub Date: June 24, 2014
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: d?books interactive
Review Posted Online: Aug. 11, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2014
Though told by two outsiders to the culture, this timely and well-crafted story will educate readers on the preciousness of...
An international story tackles a serious global issue with Reynolds’ characteristic visual whimsy.
Gie Gie—aka Princess Gie Gie—lives with her parents in Burkina Faso. In her kingdom under “the African sky, so wild and so close,” she can tame wild dogs with her song and make grass sway, but despite grand attempts, she can neither bring the water closer to home nor make it clean. French words such as “maintenant!” (now!) and “maman” (mother) and local color like the karite tree and shea nuts place the story in a French-speaking African country. Every morning, Gie Gie and her mother perch rings of cloth and large clay pots on their heads and walk miles to the nearest well to fetch murky, brown water. The story is inspired by model Georgie Badiel, who founded the Georgie Badiel Foundation to make clean water accessible to West Africans. The details in Reynolds’ expressive illustrations highlight the beauty of the West African landscape and of Princess Gie Gie, with her cornrowed and beaded hair, but will also help readers understand that everyone needs clean water—from the children of Burkina Faso to the children of Flint, Michigan.
Though told by two outsiders to the culture, this timely and well-crafted story will educate readers on the preciousness of potable water. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: Sept. 13, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-399-17258-8
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: May 17, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2016
What a wag.
What do you get from sewing the head of a smart dog onto the body of a tough police officer? A new superhero from the incorrigible creator of Captain Underpants.
Finding a stack of old Dog Mancomics that got them in trouble back in first grade, George and Harold decide to craft a set of new(ish) adventures with (more or less) improved art and spelling. These begin with an origin tale (“A Hero Is Unleashed”), go on to a fiendish attempt to replace the chief of police with a “Robo Chief” and then a temporarily successful scheme to make everyone stupid by erasing all the words from every book (“Book ’Em, Dog Man”), and finish off with a sort of attempted alien invasion evocatively titled “Weenie Wars: The Franks Awaken.” In each, Dog Man squares off against baddies (including superinventor/archnemesis Petey the cat) and saves the day with a clever notion. With occasional pauses for Flip-O-Rama featurettes, the tales are all framed in brightly colored sequential panels with hand-lettered dialogue (“How do you feel, old friend?” “Ruff!”) and narrative. The figures are studiously diverse, with police officers of both genders on view and George, the chief, and several other members of the supporting cast colored in various shades of brown. Pilkey closes as customary with drawing exercises, plus a promise that the canine crusader will be further unleashed in a sequel.
What a wag. (Graphic fantasy. 7-9)Pub Date: Aug. 30, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-545-58160-8
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Graphix/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: May 31, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2016
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