The value of art comes through loud and clear in this enjoyable, interactive musical tale. (iPad storybook app. 4-8)
A little boy helps his community remember that music is of extreme importance.
In this installment of its Living Stories series, German gaming giant Ravensburger Digital establishes itself as a credible player in the storybook-app world. All things considered, they’ve covered most of their bases in terms of what goes into a respectable digital reading experience. The illustrations are interesting and appealing enough, and navigation is reliable and incredibly well-designed. A drop-down scroll menu offers a page index, interactive clues and the ability to turn each screen into a puzzle. The story itself is decent, though it could be a tad less reductionist. Symphonia is a land of song until a cruel judge bans music to boost productivity. As a result, a culturewide depression ensues until a little boy wanders through the streets playing his violin. Musicians appear, the judge and his Big Brother–like guards conveniently leave, and music prevails. There are several outstanding interactive features here, most notably a nighttime star scene in which readers can fill out a melody loop with full chords. Another screen offers a delightful opportunity to add or subtract various musical, vocal and percussive tracks to create a personalized “orchestral” experience. Text and narration are available in English, German, French, Italian and Spanish.
The value of art comes through loud and clear in this enjoyable, interactive musical tale. (iPad storybook app. 4-8)Pub Date: July 24, 2013
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: Ravensburger Digital
Review Posted Online: Sept. 17, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2013
A top-grade creepy/funny addition to the spooky-picture-book canon.
Is a cute kitty built in a castle’s laboratory responsible for the bad things that start happening?
“Here is a tale to chill the blood and thrill the soul—a tale of spooky paws and eerie claws.” The disembodied talking skull who narrates this story is alluding to Frankenkitty, who was engineered out of multiple cats, with visible stitches to show for it. As the house ghouls look on, Frankenkitty’s inventor laments, “I’ve created a monster!” Sure enough, bad things start happening: The mummy begins to unravel. Kitchen mice terrorize the cook. Certainly, Frankenkitty must be to blame. But after the butler, who resembles Frankenstein’s Monster, tosses Frankenkitty outside into the snow, where he looks forlorn and adorable, the skull has second thoughts: “Wait! Did we get it wrong?” It’s up to readers to make the call. Powell-Tuck goes all in with her spoof of old-time horror tropes, although kids needn’t know who Boris Karloff is to be tickled. For the book’s every scare (a severed foot and hand, their bones visible), there’s a wink (in a bit of metafictive fun, the skull urges readers to opt for a story about “unicorns, beasts, or bears”). Grey, a glutton for detail, leans on menacing reds and sickly greens to capture the frights, which include, in a line for the spooky-story ages, “walls as gray as old underpants.” Human characters vary in skin tone.
A top-grade creepy/funny addition to the spooky-picture-book canon. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: July 7, 2026
ISBN: 9781664300972
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Tiger Tales
Review Posted Online: March 23, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2026
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
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