“Being a fart is so cool!” Farton concludes. Children will not be able to restrain their…applause.
Expelled from Happy Bottom by a stomach cramp, an intrepid young fart explores the world—and beyond—in this breezy import.
As an active member of the Young Explorers Club, Farton sees in his expulsion a dream come true. His adventures range from saving a group of flowers by flying up the nose of a “parfumeur” to (briefly) joining a rock band of malign pollution clouds. After this, the small green puff meets Breeze, a girl fart, and together they float off to nonstop party time in the gassy rings of Saturn. Though the verbose text and simply drawn cartoon illustrations have a low-rent look, the design and interactive effects are unusually artful. Along with a slide-in menu on every screen with a strip index, separate volume adjustments for the sound effects and the rumptious background music, and an English/Spanish toggle, taps on many figures result in a truly impressive array of juicy blats and squelches. There are also squashable bugs, a customizable jam session, clouds that can be “blown” away and other reader-controlled features. Parents unsure of the educational value of this olfactory odyssey will doubtless be appeased by the scholarly introductory doctor’s note.
“Being a fart is so cool!” Farton concludes. Children will not be able to restrain their…applause. (Requires iPad 2 and above.) (iPad storybook app. 6-8)Pub Date: Feb. 9, 2014
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: Makupipe
Review Posted Online: March 30, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2014
The wriggly narrator of Diary of a Worm (2003) puts in occasional appearances, but it’s his arachnid buddy who takes center stage here, with terse, tongue-in-cheek comments on his likes (his close friend Fly, Charlotte’s Web), his dislikes (vacuums, people with big feet), nervous encounters with a huge Daddy Longlegs, his extended family—which includes a Grandpa more than willing to share hard-won wisdom (The secret to a long, happy life: “Never fall asleep in a shoe.”)—and mishaps both at spider school and on the human playground. Bliss endows his garden-dwellers with faces and the odd hat or other accessory, and creates cozy webs or burrows colorfully decorated with corks, scraps, plastic toys and other human detritus. Spider closes with the notion that we could all get along, “just like me and Fly,” if we but got to know one another. Once again, brilliantly hilarious. (Picture book. 6-8)
Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2005
ISBN: 0-06-000153-4
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Joanna Cotler/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2005
A fair choice, but it may need some support to really blast off.
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
BOOK REVIEW
© Copyright 2024 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
bookshelf
