Well-intentioned and delivered with enthusiasm, if not quite up to professional standards in writing or design.
A message-driven trip to the African savanna, informative but marred by both literary and technical issues.
Published in a print edition in 2011 but offered here with different (uncredited) illustrations, the tale features a purple-skinned lad who is transported to Kenya by magic bubbles. There, he receives a fact-filled lecture from a friendly four-legged tour guide introducing herself as “Gigi, the reticulated giraffe.” After efforts to get closer to the animals he encounters lead to misadventures (“I almost lost my blue butt on that rhino’s loooong sharpened horn”), Jadyn also learns the value of respect and hands-off observation. Along with a menagerie of easily recognizable African animals floating over grassy backgrounds, the cartoon illustrations feature such touch-activated effects as kaleidoscopic spinners, falling stars and black-and-white areas that can be colored with digital crayons. Movements seldom look natural, however, and page-turn swipes are often slow or unresponsive. Also, along with the odd malapropism (“I ran, followed by Gigi’s frightened eyes”; “Smoke was shooting from her nostrils”) and an excessive! use! of exclamation marks!!!! the narrative confusingly ends with “To be continued…” on an otherwise blank screen, even though the episode could stand alone.
Well-intentioned and delivered with enthusiasm, if not quite up to professional standards in writing or design. (iPad storybook app. 6-8)Pub Date: July 26, 2012
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: FamCom
Review Posted Online: Aug. 19, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2012
A lesson that never grows old, enacted with verve by two favorite friends
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)Pub Date: Nov. 4, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-4231-9957-1
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Hyperion
Review Posted Online: Nov. 4, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2014
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your dreads! Isadora once again plies her hand using colorful, textured collages to depict her fourth fairy tale relocated to Africa. The narrative follows the basic story line: Taken by an evil sorceress at birth, Rapunzel is imprisoned in a tower; Rapunzel and the prince “get married” in the tower and she gets pregnant. The sorceress cuts off Rapunzel’s hair and tricks the prince, who throws himself from the tower and is blinded by thorns. The terse ending states: “The prince led Rapunzel and their twins to his kingdom, where they were received with great joy and lived happily every after.” Facial features, clothing, dreadlocks, vultures and the prince riding a zebra convey a generic African setting, but at times, the mixture of patterns and textures obfuscates the scenes. The textile and grain characteristic of the hewn art lacks the elegant romance of Zelinksy’s Caldecott version. Not a first purchase, but useful in comparing renditions to incorporate a multicultural aspect. (Picture book/fairy tale. 6-8)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2008
ISBN: 978-0-399-24772-9
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2008
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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