The lack of continuous play makes the video version superfluous, but the episode will still draw snorts and chortles aplenty...
An early work from the inveterate prankster Cole goes digital with the addition of extra reading options and a short introductory video.
As pleasantly silly now as it was when it first appeared in 1983 (1984 in the United States), the tale features a young narrator who can’t have friends over. Why? It seems that her mom is shunned by all the other parents—perhaps because, as her tall, conical hat with the turquoise dragon and like peculiar decorations signals, she’s a witch. Who makes exploding, vermin-filled cupcakes, turns some of the aforementioned parents into toads and, as a sliding inset reveals, keeps Dad in a jar to cure him of “going to the pub.” Who also saves the school from burning down, so by the end, the ice is broken. In droll contrast to the innocuous text, the cartoon illustrations teem with an array of spells, large monsters and small hairy creatures being enjoyed by laughing children as grown-ups look on in dismay. The page layouts remains approximately the same as in the print edition, but they have been multiplied into three iterations laid end to end: one for silent reading; one read aloud in a properly dry tone by the author; and one in which she appears, but not holding a copy of the book, in a small but expandable window for a series of “live” video clips. Both the audio and the video must be manually triggered on each page.
The lack of continuous play makes the video version superfluous, but the episode will still draw snorts and chortles aplenty from young audiences. (Enhanced e-book/picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: Feb. 26, 2013
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: Inky Sprat Ltd.
Review Posted Online: May 28, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2013
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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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