A repackaging, by and large, but rich in features and close enough to the originals to preserve their attractions.
A text-centered but gamer-friendly e-version of one of Nancy Drew’s more popular cases.
Reworked from the most recent revision of Nancy Drew #5: The Secret of Shadow Ranch (1931, 1965, 1993) and its 2004 video-game version, this iteration sticks to the same general plot but runs through multiple tracks. The updated, present-tense narrative (“Y’all ain’t gonna be textin, tweeterin and titterin while the rest of us’re singin, are ya?”) is liberally strewn with links to “collectible” icons, color spot art with touch-activated sound effects and side games (horse races, “hidden object” tableaus and word scrambles, for instance). Readers can also decode messages, identify suspects, affect events at frequent intervals by making choices (though sometimes there is but one “choice” offered) and even listen to abbreviated versions of cowboy songs. Children fond of skipping ahead will be frustrated, as in the first run-through the eight chapters can only be read in order, and some choices lead to dead ends requiring a return to the chapter’s beginning. For all the video game–style illustrations and the requirement that readers sign in as “players,” there is very little animation—but the mix of cliffhangers and interactive distractions should keep both budding sleuths and video addicts absorbed.
A repackaging, by and large, but rich in features and close enough to the originals to preserve their attractions. (iPad mystery/game. 9-11)Pub Date: Feb. 23, 2011
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: Her Interactive
Review Posted Online: May 3, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2011
Epic—in plot, not length—and as wise and wonderful as Gerald Morris’ Arthurian exploits.
Who needs dragons when there are Terrible Lizards to be fought?
Having recklessly boasted to King Arthur and the court that he’d slain 40 dragons, Sir Erec can hardly refuse when Merlin offers him more challenging foes…and so it is that in no time (so to speak), Erec, with bookish Sir Hector, the silent and enigmatic Black Knight, and blustering Sir Bors with his thin but doughty squire, Mel, in tow, are hewing away at fearsome creatures sporting natural armor and weapons every bit as effective as knightly ones. Happily, while all the glorious mashing and bashing leads to awesome feats aplenty—who would suspect that a ravening T. Rex could be decked by a well-placed punch to the jaw?—when the dust settles neither bloodshed nor permanent injury has been dealt to either side. Better yet, not even the stunning revelation that two of the Three Stooges–style bumblers aren’t what they seem (“Anyone else here a girl?”) keeps the questers from developing into a well-knit team capable of repeatedly saving one another’s bacon. Phelan endows the all-white human cast with finely drawn, eloquently expressive faces but otherwise works in a loose, movement-filled style, pitting his clanking crew against an almost nonstop onslaught of toothy monsters in a monochrome mix of single scenes and occasional wordless sequential panels.
Epic—in plot, not length—and as wise and wonderful as Gerald Morris’ Arthurian exploits. (Graphic/fantasy hybrid. 9-11)Pub Date: Oct. 23, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-06-268623-7
Page Count: 160
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
PROFILES
It’s not the first time old Ben has paid our times a call, but it’s funny and free-spirited, with an informational load that...
Antics both instructive and embarrassing ensue after a mysterious package left on their doorstep brings a Founding Father into the lives of two modern children.
Summoned somehow by what looks for all the world like an old-time crystal radio set, Ben Franklin turns out to be an amiable sort. He is immediately taken in hand by 7-year-old Olive for a tour of modern wonders—early versions of which many, from electrical appliances in the kitchen to the Illinois town’s public library and fire department, he justly lays claim to inventing. Meanwhile big brother Nolan, 10, tags along, frantic to return him to his own era before either their divorced mom or snoopy classmate Tommy Tuttle sees him. Fleming, author of Ben Franklin’s Almanac (2003) (and also, not uncoincidentally considering the final scene of this outing, Our Eleanor, 2005), mixes history with humor as the great man dispenses aphorisms and reminiscences through diverse misadventures, all of which end well, before vanishing at last. Following a closing, sequel-cueing kicker (see above) she then separates facts from fancies in closing notes, with print and online leads to more of the former. To go with spot illustrations of the evidently all-white cast throughout the narrative, Fearing incorporates change-of-pace sets of sequential panels for Franklin’s biographical and scientific anecdotes. Final illustrations not seen.
It’s not the first time old Ben has paid our times a call, but it’s funny and free-spirited, with an informational load that adds flavor without weight. (Graphic/fantasy hybrid. 9-11)Pub Date: Sept. 26, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-101-93406-7
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Schwartz & Wade/Random
Review Posted Online: May 9, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2017
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