Not particularly therapeutic, but the art and the plot are engaging—as is the translation, which is so consistently amusing...
A strange but beguiling mix of surreal storytelling and lighthearted psychological advice.
Selecting any of the five symptoms on the first screen, like “Unable to start doing anything,” leads to a “diagnosis” (from “Procrastination” to “Manic”). The app then proceeds to a tale about a lad who, convinced that his brain has been mechanized, fits a boombox over his head as a disguise and sets out for a series of encounters in Machine City and elsewhere. Eventually, he concludes that his problem is inconsequential. Every symptom leads to the same story, but a different “prescription” appears at the end. Putting all “network communication tools” into the freezer for a month cures “Information Anxiety,” for instance, or, for paranoia, “Pay attention to drink water, breathe more northwest wind.” Lines of text share space with panels of elaborately detailed cartoon art, which is rendered in harmonious colors and with accomplished figure modeling. The pages fade into view and glide elegantly into position on each screen with successive swipes as changing strains of ambient music play. A tap on any screen opens toggle buttons for the music and the (rare) sound effects, plus a thumbnail index strip.
Not particularly therapeutic, but the art and the plot are engaging—as is the translation, which is so consistently amusing that the awkwardness may well be intentional. (iPad storybook app. 10-14)Pub Date: Jan. 20, 2012
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: Looda Studio
Review Posted Online: March 4, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2012
A young man who unwittingly helps a punk steal an elderly couple’s television in the first story sets the somewhat uneasy tone for this collection. While glimpses of Soto’s characteristic humor and charm appear in later stories, many of these tales focus on less-than-comfortable events and experiences. There’s a girl whose tattooed and pierced babysitter dyes her younger brother’s hair orange and green, a fact sure to enrage their mom when she eventually finds out; a child who is achingly aware of the enmity of anti-war protesters and simultaneously proud of her immigrant parents’ efforts to improve their lives; and a sad young boy whose painfully polite parents have frozen him out of the family without apparently meaning to do so. Each situation is distinct, clearly drawn and immediate. Soto presents his characters with sometimes insurmountable challenges, but he limns their lives with such vivid descriptions and insights that readers will be left wondering how things work out—and wishing for the best. (Fiction. 11-14)
Pub Date: May 1, 2008
ISBN: 978-0-15-206181-4
Page Count: 192
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2008
An endearing protagonist runs the first, fast leg of Reynolds' promising relay.
Castle “Ghost” Cranshaw feels like he’s been running ever since his dad pulled that gun on him and his mom—and used it.
His dad’s been in jail three years now, but Ghost still feels the trauma, which is probably at the root of the many “altercations” he gets into at middle school. When he inserts himself into a practice for a local elite track team, the Defenders, he’s fast enough that the hard-as-nails coach decides to put him on the team. Ghost is surprised to find himself caring enough about being on the team that he curbs his behavior to avoid “altercations.” But Ma doesn’t have money to spare on things like fancy running shoes, so Ghost shoplifts a pair that make his feet feel impossibly light—and his conscience correspondingly heavy. Ghost’s narration is candid and colloquial, reminiscent of such original voices as Bud Caldwell and Joey Pigza; his level of self-understanding is both believably childlike and disarming in its perception. He is self-focused enough that secondary characters initially feel one-dimensional, Coach in particular, but as he gets to know them better, so do readers, in a way that unfolds naturally and pleasingly. His three fellow “newbies” on the Defenders await their turns to star in subsequent series outings. Characters are black by default; those few white people in Ghost’s world are described as such.
An endearing protagonist runs the first, fast leg of Reynolds' promising relay. (Fiction. 10-14)Pub Date: Aug. 30, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-4814-5015-7
Page Count: 192
Publisher: Caitlyn Dlouhy/Atheneum
Review Posted Online: July 19, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2016
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