At last, an answer to an age-old mystery.
A boastful young sleuth obliviously aids a group of disguised dinosaurs in this brisk and hilarious tale.
Thaddeus Getsit-Wright, self-proclaimed “[p]rivate eye, mastermind and Rubik’s Cube genius since kindergarten,” sets out to discover what happened to the dinosaurs. He doesn’t notice, though, that he’s being cleverly led by a group of green, scaly creatures (including his personal assistant, Gladys) to a natural history museum, then an only-apparently-deserted dinosaur theme park and finally to a remote site where he finds one of the aforementioned Cubes. Or seemingly so, anyway, as solving it (readers can help by matching a set of drag-and-drop colored tiles) summons a flying rescuer to whisk the dinos away behind the clueless detective’s back. Not only can readers choose either French or English versions (the English one has optional, plummily accented narration), but there are animations aplenty. Swiping, tapping, blowing on or shaking many of the high-spirited cartoon scenes cause bubbles to form and pop, footprints to emerge from “dust,” a vending machine to mouth off, a gallery of nattily attired dinos to stand revealed in their underwear and further rib-tickling special effects. Other enhancements include a functioning compass and, at the top of each screen, a pull-down thumbnail index.
At last, an answer to an age-old mystery. (iPad storybook app. 6-8)Pub Date: Nov. 21, 2013
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: Audois & Alleuil Editions
Review Posted Online: Feb. 11, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2014
BOOK REVIEW
Rylant (Henry and Mudge and the Sneaky Crackers, 1998, etc.) slips into a sentimental mode for this latest outing of the boy and his dog, as she sends Mudge and Henry and his parents off on a camping trip. Each character is attended to, each personality sketched in a few brief words: Henry's mother is the camping veteran with outdoor savvy; Henry's father doesn't know a tent stake from a marshmallow fork, but he's got a guitar for campfire entertainment; and the principals are their usual ready-for-fun selves. There are sappy moments, e.g., after an evening of star- gazing, Rylant sends the family off to bed with: ``Everyone slept safe and sound and there were no bears, no scares. Just the clean smell of trees . . . and wonderful green dreams.'' With its nice tempo, the story is as toasty as its campfire and swaddled in Stevenson's trusty artwork. (Fiction. 6-8)
Pub Date: April 1, 1998
ISBN: 0-689-81175-6
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1998
With wordplay reminiscent of Margie Palatini at her best, Helakoski takes four timorous chickens into, then out of, the literal and figurative woods. Fleeing the henhouse after catching sight of a wolf, the pusillanimous pullets come to a deep ditch: “ ‘What if we can’t jump that far?’ ‘What if we fall in the ditch?’ ‘What if we get sucked into the mud?’ The chickens tutted, putted, and flutted. They butted into themselves and each other, until one by one . . . ” they do fall in. But then they pick themselves up and struggle out. Ensuing encounters with cows and a lake furnish similar responses and outcomes; ultimately they tumble into the wolf’s very cave, where they “picked, pecked, and pocked. They ruffled, puffled, and shuffled. They shrieked, squeaked, and freaked, until . . . ” their nemesis scampers away in panic. Fluttering about in pop-eyed terror, the portly, partly clothed hens make comical figures in Cole’s sunny cartoons (as does the flummoxed wolf)—but the genuine triumph in their final strut—“ ‘I am a big, brave chicken,’ said one chicken. ‘Ohh . . . ’ said the others. ‘Me too.’ ‘Me three.’ ‘Me four’ ”—brings this tribute to chicken power to a rousing close. (Picture book. 6-8)
Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-525-47575-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Dutton
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2005
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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