by Ján Uliciansky & illustrated by Miloš Kopták ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 23, 2011
Despite an adult narrative outlook and structural complexities, there’s plenty here for ruminative young readers to latch...
First and (so far) only English edition of a Slovak novelist and playwright’s dreamlike encounter with a neighbor’s unborn child.
The playful, semi-surreal illustrations in this ethereal tale are reminiscent in tone to The Little Prince, a connection enhanced by explicit direct references to the classic at beginning and end. The narrative plaits together three elements: the author’s introspective commentary, conversations in a dark, stalled elevator with a naive child claiming to be “prematurely lost” and that child’s brief visits with the women (mostly older mothers) who occupy the building’s apartments. The app’s simple but effective digital effects (all of which can be stilled or switched off) include ambient background music with occasional quiet sounds. Stars, lamps and other items spin, fall, light up or drift from side to side at a stately pace and can be controlled in limited ways with a fingertip. An innovative language-switching feature transforms the pages of text from English to Slovak and back with a turn of the tablet. Minor translation glitches aside, the episode offers a nourishing set of simple philosophical observations (“The most important thing is to know where one belongs”) presented in oblique but not impenetrable language, a character gallery of moms and intricate, sophisticated illustrations that reward both visual and tactile exploration.
Despite an adult narrative outlook and structural complexities, there’s plenty here for ruminative young readers to latch onto—just like The Little Prince. (iPad storybook app. 10-14, adult)Pub Date: April 23, 2011
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: iAdverti s.r.o.
Review Posted Online: May 9, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2011
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by Dav Pilkey & illustrated by Dav Pilkey ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 28, 2012
Is this the end? Well, no…the series will stagger on through at least one more scheduled sequel.
Sure signs that the creative wells are running dry at last, the Captain’s ninth, overstuffed outing both recycles a villain (see Book 4) and offers trendy anti-bullying wish fulfillment.
Not that there aren’t pranks and envelope-pushing quips aplenty. To start, in an alternate ending to the previous episode, Principal Krupp ends up in prison (“…a lot like being a student at Jerome Horwitz Elementary School, except that the prison had better funding”). There, he witnesses fellow inmate Tippy Tinkletrousers (aka Professor Poopypants) escape in a giant Robo-Suit (later reduced to time-traveling trousers). The villain sets off after George and Harold, who are in juvie (“not much different from our old school…except that they have library books here.”). Cut to five years previous, in a prequel to the whole series. George and Harold link up in kindergarten to reduce a quartet of vicious bullies to giggling insanity with a relentless series of pranks involving shaving cream, spiders, effeminate spoof text messages and friendship bracelets. Pilkey tucks both topical jokes and bathroom humor into the cartoon art, and ups the narrative’s lexical ante with terms like “pharmaceuticals” and “theatrical flair.” Unfortunately, the bullies’ sad fates force Krupp to resign, so he’s not around to save the Earth from being destroyed later on by Talking Toilets and other invaders…
Is this the end? Well, no…the series will stagger on through at least one more scheduled sequel. (Fantasy. 10-12)Pub Date: Aug. 28, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-545-17534-0
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: June 19, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2012
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by Soman Chainani ; illustrated by Iacopo Bruno ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 14, 2013
Rich and strange (and kitted out with an eye-catching cover), but stronger in the set pieces than the internal logic.
Chainani works an elaborate sea change akin to Gregory Maguire’s Wicked (1995), though he leaves the waters muddied.
Every four years, two children, one regarded as particularly nice and the other particularly nasty, are snatched from the village of Gavaldon by the shadowy School Master to attend the divided titular school. Those who survive to graduate become major or minor characters in fairy tales. When it happens to sweet, Disney princess–like Sophie and her friend Agatha, plain of features, sour of disposition and low of self-esteem, they are both horrified to discover that they’ve been dropped not where they expect but at Evil and at Good respectively. Gradually—too gradually, as the author strings out hundreds of pages of Hogwarts-style pranks, classroom mishaps and competitions both academic and romantic—it becomes clear that the placement wasn’t a mistake at all. Growing into their true natures amid revelations and marked physical changes, the two spark escalating rivalry between the wings of the school. This leads up to a vicious climactic fight that sees Good and Evil repeatedly switching sides. At this point, readers are likely to feel suddenly left behind, as, thanks to summary deus ex machina resolutions, everything turns out swell(ish).
Rich and strange (and kitted out with an eye-catching cover), but stronger in the set pieces than the internal logic. (Fantasy. 11-13)Pub Date: May 14, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-06-210489-2
Page Count: 496
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Feb. 12, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2013
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