Readers who make it this far will find happy little e-postcards designed by Chocolate Rain Designs that they can send to...
Despite its sketchy description in the app store, this is not the story, The Little Prince, but rather an interactive essay on the meaning of the Saint-Exupéry classic.
Perhaps much has been lost in translation, but this is clearly not meant for children. (Arguably, neither was the book, but it has so often been used with children that it has become part of the canon.) The first two pages ramble on with a seemingly personal overview of the main themes in the source story. This is followed by an interactive page on which readers can tap on each character to see a paragraph explaining its symbolism and function in the story; for instance, the snake is described as "carefree... Being a hedonist, he won't say no to anything or any of his lovers." A verse story of sorts follows, pondering love, loss, sadness and hope; it is rather too despairing (not to mention incoherent) for children to get much enjoyment from. It is juxtaposed to the whimsical signature illustrations of Chocolate Rain Design. The text is not narrated; instead, a melancholy folk song that riffs on some of the key lines plays throughout, and it all comes to a conclusion with a final page of essay in which readers are admonished that "the stories told during the Journey are messages."
Readers who make it this far will find happy little e-postcards designed by Chocolate Rain Designs that they can send to friends—but not, perhaps, with a recommendation to buy this app. (iPad storybook app. 14 & up)Pub Date: June 27, 2011
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: Innopage
Review Posted Online: Aug. 14, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
Opening episodes of a comic-book series created by an American teacher in Japan take a leap into chapter-book format, with only partial success. Resembling—in occasional illustrations—a button-eyed, juvenile Olive Oyl, Akiko, 10, is persuaded by a pair of aliens named Bip and Bop to climb out her high-rise bedroom’s window for a trip to M&M-shaped Planet Smoo, where Prince Fropstoppit has been kidnapped by widely feared villainness Alia Rellaport. Along with an assortment of contentious sidekicks, including brainy Mr. Beeba, Akiko battles Sky Pirates and video-game-style monsters in prolonged scenes of cartoony violence, displaying resilience, courage, and leadership ability, but not getting very far in her rescue attempt; in fact, the story cuts off so abruptly, with so little of the quest completed, and at a lull in the action to boot, that readers expecting a self-contained (forget complete) story are likely to feel cheated. (Fiction. 10-12)
Pub Date: Feb. 8, 2000
ISBN: 0-385-32724-2
Page Count: 162
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 1999
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Ghanaian teenager Gloria Bampo has hit a rough patch. She failed most of her school exams, her long-unemployed father has lost himself to religion and her mother is ravaged by a mysterious sickness. Her one consolation, her older sister Effie, has discovered boys and all but disappeared. Gloria is offered a job in a distant city with Christine, a doctor who needs househelp. Her father is quick to assent, with one condition: In lieu of payment, Christine must take responsibility for Gloria's future and adopt her as a sister. Gloria adjusts easily, studies hard and explores her newfound freedom. But when the temptations of her new life—brand-name clothes and handsome doctors—prove hard to resist, a misunderstanding cuts a rift between Gloria and Christine. Each must confront class stereotypes and re-examine the meaning of family. Badoe's sharp and engaging prose unfolds the story with spryness, deftly navigating readers through heady social issues. But she wastes readers' goodwill at the end with a conclusion both haphazard and overly moralistic, jarringly out of place in this otherwise thoughtful and well-excuted novel. (Ghanaian glossary) (Fiction. YA)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2010
ISBN: 978-88899-996-2
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Groundwood
Review Posted Online: Aug. 2, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2010
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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