Predictable and weak, both on a literary and technological level.
A young lad makes his vegetables more palatable by imagining an unlikely adventure.
As Aidan stares at vegetables he doesn’t want to eat, he is transported to Carrot Castle, where he lands in a prison tower to await a face-off for with the king. Alarmed, he eats his way through the carrot-lined cell wall and slides down a secret passageway, landing in a courtyard (definitely the coolest feature of the app). Aidan scrambles to hide in a tree, which is really a tall stalk of broccoli he must gnaw his way through. Eventually he faces the angry king, who chastises him for eating carrots and broccoli (a reverse psychology move that every parent has probably tried at least once). When Aidan snaps out of the fantasy his plate is clean. The storytelling in this app is perfunctory, plain and in several places inconsistent. Children will be dying to know why, for instance, does the king imprison Aidan? In addition, Aidan is sentenced to walk the plank, yet the castle appears to be landlocked. (Aren’t planks on ships anyway?) Indications that the episode in Carrot Castle is imaginary may well slip by young readers. There are a handful of run-of-the-mill interactions—flying bats, meowing cats and several short tap- or swipe-triggered animations, but after one read-through they’re likely to lose their luster.
Predictable and weak, both on a literary and technological level. (iPad storybook app. 4-7)Pub Date: Feb. 10, 2012
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: Purple Carrot Books
Review Posted Online: March 27, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2012
Not enough tricks to make this a treat.
Another holiday title (How To Catch the Easter Bunny by Adam Wallace, illustrated by Elkerton, 2017) sticks to the popular series’ formula.
Rhyming four-line verses describe seven intrepid trick-or-treaters’ efforts to capture the witch haunting their Halloween. Rhyming roadblocks with toolbox is an acceptable stretch, but too often too many words or syllables in the lines throw off the cadence. Children familiar with earlier titles will recognize the traps set by the costume-clad kids—a pulley and box snare, a “Tunnel of Tricks.” Eventually they accept her invitation to “floss, bump, and boogie,” concluding “the dance party had hit the finale at last, / each dancing monster started to cheer! / There’s no doubt about it, we have to admit: / This witch threw the party of the year!” The kids are diverse, and their costumes are fanciful rather than scary—a unicorn, a dragon, a scarecrow, a red-haired child in a lab coat and bow tie, a wizard, and two space creatures. The monsters, goblins, ghosts, and jack-o'-lanterns, backgrounded by a turquoise and purple night sky, are sufficiently eerie. Still, there isn’t enough originality here to entice any but the most ardent fans of Halloween or the series. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Not enough tricks to make this a treat. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Aug. 2, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-72821-035-3
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Sourcebooks Wonderland
Review Posted Online: May 10, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of...
Rabe follows a young girl through her first 12 days of kindergarten in this book based on the familiar Christmas carol.
The typical firsts of school are here: riding the bus, making friends, sliding on the playground slide, counting, sorting shapes, laughing at lunch, painting, singing, reading, running, jumping rope, and going on a field trip. While the days are given ordinal numbers, the song skips the cardinal numbers in the verses, and the rhythm is sometimes off: “On the second day of kindergarten / I thought it was so cool / making lots of friends / and riding the bus to my school!” The narrator is a white brunette who wears either a tunic or a dress each day, making her pretty easy to differentiate from her classmates, a nice mix in terms of race; two students even sport glasses. The children in the ink, paint, and collage digital spreads show a variety of emotions, but most are happy to be at school, and the surroundings will be familiar to those who have made an orientation visit to their own schools.
While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of Kindergarten (2003), it basically gets the job done. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: June 21, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-06-234834-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 3, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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