STRANGEBEARD

Name: STRANGEBEARD
Author: StoryToys

developed by StoryToys ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 14, 2013

The bright colors, unusually vigorous animation and variety of digital games will spark many a “Yo Ho Ho!” (iPad storybook...

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Buckling swash to the max, doughty Princess Isabel sets out on a pirate adventure positively awash in tap- and tilt-activated action.

Screens of setup narrative are read (optionally, and in any of four European languages) in scenery-chewing, piratical voices. These alternate with interactive scenes played out with cartoon figures rendered in supersaturated colors. These pop up into view on an illustrated page and remain until a tap on the “next” arrow abruptly sucks them back out of sight. Relatively sedate activities include dressing Isabel in an appropriate disguise or assembling a jigsaw treasure map. Action-oriented viewers can also blast away at a sea monster’s tentacles, guide a pirate ship past various floating dangers—or not, which results in loud, spectacular explosions—and, with a fingertip, “hack” at increasingly heavy cascades of fruit hurled directly at the screen by a crew of gibbering monkeys. Ultimately, Isabel rescues an admiring prince, saves her ship and forces a rival pirate captain to walk the plank. Avast! Off to the next adventure. Young salts can skip the storyline entirely, thanks to a strip index that provides access to the game screens alone; they can also move on to appended sets of jigsaw puzzles and sticker albums, though most of these last are locked away behind a pay wall.

The bright colors, unusually vigorous animation and variety of digital games will spark many a “Yo Ho Ho!” (iPad storybook app. 6-8)

Pub Date: Nov. 14, 2013

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: StoryToys

Review Posted Online: Jan. 14, 2014

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2014

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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

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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)