Meager monkey business.
Engaging artwork, superb narration and one extra-sparkly page fail to keep this disjointed story about self-esteem afloat.
Using monkeys as metaphors for negative thoughts, Lim tells the story of a little girl who decides to capture the primates in an effort to silence them. Apes with names like Gobbledeegoo and Frankenpoop relentlessly torment the girl by telling her that she’s not good enough, that no one likes her and that things are all her fault. One by one she lures them into a glass cage, but in the end she decides to befriend them and set them free. Objects’ pulsations (according to the instructions, they are meant to look like they are glowing) supposedly reveal interactive elements, but sometimes things that move or produce sound don’t pulse or glow. Animation is mostly slow, bumpy and unremarkable, with the exception of one visually stimulating page that the developers apparently put most of their effort into. At times the story and the illustrations are incongruent; on one page the girl says there are mice inside her head—presumably a reference to the shrunken monkeys—but because this is not made explicit, young readers will likely be left wondering where the mice factor in. The subject matter is relevant and potentially powerful, but this incoherent story doesn’t even come close to plumbing its depths.
Meager monkey business. (iPad storybook app. 4-8)Pub Date: June 7, 2012
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: PaperPlaneCo
Review Posted Online: July 21, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2012
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
SEEN & HEARD
New parents of daughters will eat these up and perhaps pass on the lessons learned.
All the reasons why a daughter needs a mother.
Each spread features an adorable cartoon animal parent-child pair on the recto opposite a rhyming verse: “I’ll always support you in giving your all / in every endeavor, the big and the small, / and be there to catch you in case you should fall. / I hope you believe this is true.” A virtually identical book, Why a Daughter Needs a Dad, publishes simultaneously. Both address standing up for yourself and your values, laughing to ease troubles, being thankful, valuing friendship, persevering and dreaming big, being truthful, thinking through decisions, and being open to differences, among other topics. Though the sentiments/life lessons here and in the companion title are heartfelt and important, there are much better ways to deliver them. These books are likely to go right over children’s heads and developmental levels (especially with the rather advanced vocabulary); their parents are the more likely audience, and for them, the books provide some coaching in what kids need to hear. The two books are largely interchangeable, especially since there are so few references to mom or dad, but one spread in each book reverts to stereotype: Dad balances the two-wheeler, and mom helps with clothing and hair styles. Since the books are separate, it aids in customization for many families.
New parents of daughters will eat these up and perhaps pass on the lessons learned. (Picture book. 4-8, adult)Pub Date: May 1, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-4926-6781-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Sourcebooks Jabberwocky
Review Posted Online: March 16, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2019
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