Even though the literary component isn’t wonderful, this app is worth the price of admission thanks to the innovative...
An interactive sequel to The Witch with No Name (2012).
The titular witch is back, and this time she’s looking for love—arguably, in all the wrong places. Obsessed with impressing the narcissistic Merlinor at his annual Halloween Ball, the witch sets out to improve her image. (The magic mirror is partially to blame for this, as it keeps telling her that she’s not marvelous enough for Merlinor.) First she seeks a new wardrobe by visiting German fashion designer Lagerspell, who is fabulous and the one character in the story that shines. She buys a new Ferraci broom and takes etiquette lessons from Mummily Manners. In the end, the witch ends up finding love, but not where she thought she would. There’s a plethora of interactive opportunities throughout the story, many of them delightful. Props to the developers for utilizing the full power of the iPad; SlimCricket harnesses the creative and interactive capabilities of the microphone, camera and tilt action and offers a host of animated touch features. In addition to exploring the tactile magic on each page, readers can complete four tasks to unlock a pleasant little surprise. As with the witch’s first outing, the actual story lags behind in accomplishment, but readers are unlikely to notice this.
Even though the literary component isn’t wonderful, this app is worth the price of admission thanks to the innovative interactive elements. (Requires iOS 6 and above.) (iPad storybook app. 4-8)Pub Date: Oct. 29, 2014
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: SlimCricket
Review Posted Online: Dec. 5, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2014
Continuing to find inspiration in the work of Virginia Lee Burton, Munro Leaf and other illustrators of the past, Long (The Little Engine That Could, 2005) offers an aw-shucks friendship tale that features a small but hardworking tractor (“putt puff puttedy chuff”) with a Little Toot–style face and a big-eared young descendant of Ferdinand the bull who gets stuck in deep, gooey mud. After the big new yellow tractor, crowds of overalls-clad locals and a red fire engine all fail to pull her out, the little tractor (who had been left behind the barn to rust after the arrival of the new tractor) comes putt-puff-puttedy-chuff-ing down the hill to entice his terrified bovine buddy successfully back to dry ground. Short on internal logic but long on creamy scenes of calf and tractor either gamboling energetically with a gaggle of McCloskey-like geese through neutral-toned fields or resting peacefully in the shade of a gnarled tree (apple, not cork), the episode will certainly draw nostalgic adults. Considering the author’s track record and influences, it may find a welcome from younger audiences too. (Picture book. 5-8)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2009
ISBN: 978-0-399-25248-8
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Philomel
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2009
SEEN & HEARD
Pete’s fans might find it groovy; anyone else has plenty of other “12 Days of Christmas” variants to choose among
Pete, the cat who couldn’t care less, celebrates Christmas with his inimitable lassitude.
If it weren’t part of the title and repeated on every other page, readers unfamiliar with Pete’s shtick might have a hard time arriving at “groovy” to describe his Christmas celebration, as the expressionless cat displays not a hint of groove in Dean’s now-trademark illustrations. Nor does Pete have a great sense of scansion: “On the first day of Christmas, / Pete gave to me… / A road trip to the sea. / GROOVY!” The cat is shown at the wheel of a yellow microbus strung with garland and lights and with a star-topped tree tied to its roof. On the second day of Christmas Pete gives “me” (here depicted as a gray squirrel who gets on the bus) “2 fuzzy gloves, and a road trip to the sea. / GROOVY!” On the third day, he gives “me” (now a white cat who joins Pete and the squirrel) “3 yummy cupcakes,” etc. The “me” mentioned in the lyrics changes from day to day and gift to gift, with “4 far-out surfboards” (a frog), “5 onion rings” (crocodile), and “6 skateboards rolling” (a yellow bird that shares its skateboards with the white cat, the squirrel, the frog, and the crocodile while Pete drives on). Gifts and animals pile on until the microbus finally arrives at the seaside and readers are told yet again that it’s all “GROOVY!”
Pete’s fans might find it groovy; anyone else has plenty of other “12 Days of Christmas” variants to choose among . (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Sept. 18, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-06-267527-9
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Aug. 19, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2018
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