Some younger kids will enjoy the story, which briefly branches off in three directions before coming back together, but many...
A ladybug helps a friend and learns to fly.
Ladybug Zee, a cartoon critter who wears high-heel red boots for some reason, wants to help her caterpillar friend, Mony, by collecting leaves to eat. What follows is a soggy trek through different locales including a corn field and a swampy bog, but it’s an uninspired time riddled with typos (“Find six peaces [sic] of the map and put them together and you will find food for your friend”), badly formatted quotation marks and wan puzzles. These include a matching game, a jigsaw-style map puzzle and a "Frogger"-style challenge that’s become shorthand in children’s apps for, “We’ve run out of ideas.” The illustrations and rudimentary animation are flat and uninteresting, and the text if full of garbled sentences such as, “But now morning is coming, sun is already up in the sky and it is time for her to wake up.” By the time Mony transforms into a butterfly and Zee learns to fly with the help of a counting game, the lack of inspiration in the story makes the quick wrap-up ending that follows very welcome
Some younger kids will enjoy the story, which briefly branches off in three directions before coming back together, but many storybook apps do the same kind of thing much better. (iPad storybook app. 4-6)Pub Date: April 6, 2014
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: CoolAsh Studio
Review Posted Online: June 26, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2014
BOOK REVIEW
A stocking stuffer par excellence, just right for dishing up with milk and cookies.
Pigeon finds something better to drive than some old bus.
This time it’s Santa delivering the fateful titular words, and with a “Ho. Ho. Whoa!” the badgering begins: “C’mon! Where’s your holiday spirit? It would be a Christmas MIRACLE! Don’t you want to be part of a Christmas miracle…?” Pigeon is determined: “I can do Santa stuff!” Like wrapping gifts (though the accompanying illustration shows a rather untidy present), delivering them (the image of Pigeon attempting to get an oversize sack down a chimney will have little ones giggling), and eating plenty of cookies. Alas, as Willems’ legion of young fans will gleefully predict, not even Pigeon’s by-now well-honed persuasive powers (“I CAN BE JOLLY!”) will budge the sleigh’s large and stinky reindeer guardian. “BAH. Also humbug.” In the typically minimalist art, the frustrated feathered one sports a floppily expressive green and red elf hat for this seasonal addition to the series—but then discards it at the end for, uh oh, a pair of bunny ears. What could Pigeon have in mind now? “Egg delivery, anyone?”
A stocking stuffer par excellence, just right for dishing up with milk and cookies. (Picture book. 4-6)Pub Date: Sept. 5, 2023
ISBN: 9781454952770
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Union Square Kids
Review Posted Online: Sept. 12, 2023
Too cute to be spooky indeed but most certainly sweet.
A ghost longs to be scary, but none of the creepy personas she tries on fit.
Misty, a feline ghost with big green eyes and long whiskers, wants to be the frightening presence that her haunted house calls for, but sadly, she’s “too cute to be spooky.” She dons toilet paper to resemble a mummy, attempts to fly on a broom like a witch, and howls at the moon like a werewolf. Nothing works. She heads to a Halloween party dressed reluctantly as herself. When she arrives, her friends’ joyful screams reassure her that she’s great just as she is. Sadler’s message, though a familiar one, is delivered effectively in a charming, ghostly package. Misty truly is too precious to be frightening. Laberis depicts an endearingly spooky, all-animal cast—a frog witch, for instance, and a crocodilian mummy. Misty’s sidekick, a cheery little bat who lends support throughout, might be even more adorable than she is. Though Misty’s haunted house is filled with cobwebs and surrounded by jagged, leafless trees, the charming characters keep things from ever getting too frightening. The images will encourage lingering looks. Clearly, there’s plenty that makes Misty special just as she is—a takeaway that adults sharing the book with their little ones should be sure to drive home.
Too cute to be spooky indeed but most certainly sweet. (Picture book. 4-6)Pub Date: Aug. 13, 2024
ISBN: 9780593702901
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: May 17, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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