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THE SMURFS MOVIE STORYBOOK

Name: THE SMURFS MOVIE STORYBOOK
Author: FrogDogMedia LLC

developed by FrogDogMedia LLC ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 26, 2011

Make room at the bottom of the barrel for this smurforrendous (non)effort.

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A smurfstonishingly bad tie-in to the recently released film.

A stingy assortment of entirely unanimated movie stills that generally depict just a part (and typically not even the most dramatic part) of the action is paired with captions that appear piecemeal. The tale sends a group of Smurfs from their village to New York City, pursued by the evil sorcerer Gargamel, who is after the Smurf essence “that he needs to become all-mighty [sic].” The hyper-compressed text runs to lines like “Clumsy is down that his clumsiness is the reason the other Smurfs are in this mess. Grace reassures him that he can be anything he wants to be, and no one is just one thing.” The text is never entirely visible at once and gets partly or completely skipped over if the picture is swiped prematurely. Children have the option of hearing an emotive narration, struggling on their own to make sense of the sketchy story line—or bagging the entire adventure to play a perfunctory “Spot the Differences” game with three altered pairs of stills.

Make room at the bottom of the barrel for this smurforrendous (non)effort. (iPad storybook app. 6-8)

Pub Date: July 26, 2011

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Frog Dog Media

Review Posted Online: Aug. 15, 2011

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2011

- BOOK REVIEW
KUNG FU PANDA 2 STORYBOOK
developed by FrogDogMedia LLC

- BOOK REVIEW
PETER PAN HD
by J.M. Barrie illustrated by Eulalie developed by FrogDogMedia LLC

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TINY LITTLE ROCKET

by Richard Collingridge ; illustrated by Richard Collingridge ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 31, 2018

A fair choice, but it may need some support to really blast off.

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This rocket hopes to take its readers on a birthday blast—but there may or may not be enough fuel.

Once a year, a one-seat rocket shoots out from Earth. Why? To reveal a special congratulatory banner for a once-a-year event. The second-person narration puts readers in the pilot’s seat and, through a (mostly) ballad-stanza rhyme scheme (abcb), sends them on a journey toward the sun, past meteors, and into the Kuiper belt. The final pages include additional information on how birthdays are measured against the Earth’s rotations around the sun. Collingridge aims for the stars with this title, and he mostly succeeds. The rhyme scheme flows smoothly, which will make listeners happy, but the illustrations (possibly a combination of paint with digital enhancements) may leave the viewers feeling a little cold. The pilot is seen only with a 1960s-style fishbowl helmet that completely obscures the face, gender, and race by reflecting the interior of the rocket ship. This may allow readers/listeners to picture themselves in the role, but it also may divest them of any emotional connection to the story. The last pages—the backside of a triple-gatefold spread—label the planets and include Pluto. While Pluto is correctly labeled as a dwarf planet, it’s an unusual choice to include it but not the other dwarfs: Ceres, Eris, etc. The illustration also neglects to include the asteroid belt or any of the solar system’s moons.

A fair choice, but it may need some support to really blast off. (Picture book. 6-8)

Pub Date: July 31, 2018

ISBN: 978-1-338-18949-0

Page Count: 32

Publisher: David Fickling/Phoenix/Scholastic

Review Posted Online: April 15, 2018

Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2018

Categories:

CHILDREN'S TRANSPORTATION

- BOOK REVIEW
LIONHEART
by Richard Collingridge ; illustrated by Richard Collingridge

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WAITING IS NOT EASY!

From the Elephant & Piggie series

by Mo Willems ; illustrated by Mo Willems ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 4, 2014

A lesson that never grows old, enacted with verve by two favorite friends

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Gerald the elephant learns a truth familiar to every preschooler—heck, every human: “Waiting is not easy!”

When Piggie cartwheels up to Gerald announcing that she has a surprise for him, Gerald is less than pleased to learn that the “surprise is a surprise.” Gerald pumps Piggie for information (it’s big, it’s pretty, and they can share it), but Piggie holds fast on this basic principle: Gerald will have to wait. Gerald lets out an almighty “GROAN!” Variations on this basic exchange occur throughout the day; Gerald pleads, Piggie insists they must wait; Gerald groans. As the day turns to twilight (signaled by the backgrounds that darken from mauve to gray to charcoal), Gerald gets grumpy. “WE HAVE WASTED THE WHOLE DAY!…And for WHAT!?” Piggie then gestures up to the Milky Way, which an awed Gerald acknowledges “was worth the wait.” Willems relies even more than usual on the slightest of changes in posture, layout and typography, as two waiting figures can’t help but be pretty static. At one point, Piggie assumes the lotus position, infuriating Gerald. Most amusingly, Gerald’s elephantine groans assume weighty physicality in spread-filling speech bubbles that knock Piggie to the ground. And the spectacular, photo-collaged images of the Milky Way that dwarf the two friends makes it clear that it was indeed worth the wait.

A lesson that never grows old, enacted with verve by two favorite friends . (Early reader. 6-8)