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WELCOME TO THE VAMPIRE'S LAIR

...IF YOU DARE!

Vampires rarely come amiss, and von Splatter has a high time amusing and spooking users while it lasts

Vampire Vladmir von Splatter introduces young users of this app to some ghoulish features in his castle.

The vampire’s castle is in the “pleasantly dark and stormy realm of Darkonia,” and it is aptly rendered here with plenty of inky shadows and murky corners, but also with its share of bold color and terrific sound effects—Vincent Price would be proud. The app is very friendly to use, responding quickly to the touch, which is typically accompanied by a scream or a howl. There are seven separate screens involved, each with multiple features and often involving a game as users poke about in the castle. On one screen, coffins are laid out on a stage and can be played like a piano; on another, a candy-striped Venus flytrap takes huge bites when touched; another breaks the Mona Lisa up into a puzzle—upon reassembly, she screams and her eyes fall out of her head. Its devilish fun, but it also has to be said that the staying power of this app has got to be limited. Once readers have figured out the puzzle, there is not much more to discover. Still, the theatrics and the sheer visual power of the app might well keep users coming back time and again.

Vampires rarely come amiss, and von Splatter has a high time amusing and spooking users while it lasts . (iPad storybook app. 5-8)

Pub Date: Dec. 12, 2012

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: LivoBooks

Review Posted Online: Jan. 27, 2013

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2013

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OTIS

From the Otis series

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

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IMANI'S MOON

While the blend of folklore, fantasy and realism is certainly far-fetched, Imani, with her winning personality, is a child...

Imani endures the insults heaped upon her by the other village children, but she never gives up her dreams.

The Masai girl is tiny compared to the other children, but she is full of imagination and perseverance. Luckily, she has a mother who believes in her and tells her stories that will fuel that imagination. Mama tells her about the moon goddess, Olapa, who wins over the sun god. She tells Imani about Anansi, the trickster spider who vanquishes a larger snake. (Troublingly, the fact that Anansi is a West African figure, not of the Masai, goes unaddressed in both text and author’s note.) Inspired, the tiny girl tries to find new ways to achieve her dream: to touch the moon. One day, after crashing to the ground yet again when her leafy wings fail, she is ready to forget her hopes. That night, she witnesses the adumu, the special warriors’ jumping dance. Imani wakes the next morning, determined to jump to the moon. After jumping all day, she reaches the moon, meets Olapa and receives a special present from the goddess, a small moon rock. Now she becomes the storyteller when she relates her adventure to Mama. The watercolor-and-graphite illustrations have been enhanced digitally, and the night scenes of storytelling and fantasy with their glowing stars and moons have a more powerful impact than the daytime scenes, with their blander colors.

While the blend of folklore, fantasy and realism is certainly far-fetched, Imani, with her winning personality, is a child to be admired. (Picture book. 5-8)

Pub Date: Oct. 14, 2014

ISBN: 978-1-934133-57-6

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Mackinac Island Press

Review Posted Online: July 28, 2014

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2014

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