This sci-fi adventure kicks off a relatively promising series.
Some kids on a camping trip venture too close to a fallen meteor and receive an overdose of gamma radiation that turns them into superheroes.
During the two families' camping trip, the kids witness a meteor crash into the ground near their campsite. When the girl and two boys touch the meteor, they fall unconscious and aren’t discovered until morning, when their respective fathers wake up and discover them missing. Intergalactic Affairs (IGA) soldiers respond to their distress call in a black stealth helicopter and transport the kids back to a secret laboratory in the mountains. When the kids revive after a few weeks, they seem to be unchanged—until they miraculously prevent a bus accident on a school field trip. The IGA appears, ready to recruit the kids for future adventures. The solid plot will appeal to both boys and girls, although the plodding text sorely needs editing for basic grammar and punctuation. There are some enticing interactive elements: Readers can "pack" camping items into a car and “drive” a car and a helicopter. The music, narration and text boxes can all be switched on or off, while the navigation is just page-forward or -back. The cartoon-style illustrations suit the superhero plot but are nothing special. The sound effects are well-done, but the voiced narration adds nothing to the story.
This sci-fi adventure kicks off a relatively promising series. (iPad storybook app. 5-8)Pub Date: April 17, 2012
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: Adland Apps
Review Posted Online: May 22, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2012
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
One of the watershed moments in African-American history—the defeat of James Braddock at the hands of Joe Louis—is here given an earnest picture-book treatment. Despite his lack of athletic ability, Sammy wants desperately to be a great boxer, like his hero, getting boxing lessons from his friend Ernie in exchange for help with schoolwork. However hard he tries, though, Sammy just can’t box, and his father comforts him, reminding him that he doesn’t need to box: Joe Louis has shown him that he “can be the champion at anything [he] want[s].” The high point of this offering is the big fight itself, everyone crowded around the radio in Mister Jake’s general store, the imagined fight scenes played out in soft-edged sepia frames. The main story, however, is so bent on providing Sammy and the reader with object lessons that all subtlety is lost, as Mister Jake, Sammy’s father, and even Ernie hammer home the message. Both text and oil-on-canvas-paper illustrations go for the obvious angle, making the effort as a whole worthy, but just a little too heavy-handed. (Picture book. 5-8)
Pub Date: May 1, 2004
ISBN: 1-58430-161-9
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Lee & Low Books
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2004
© Copyright 2026 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.
