This road trip never gets out of the driveway.
Low-rent animations, illustrations, audio and overall design provide just what this sketchy bovine cross-country tour merits.
Inspired by television, naive Harry—repeatedly referred to as a cow, but male—sets off to see America in a sports car provided by his proud farmer. He meets along the way both “nice” people who, for instance, steer him away from a burger joint to a salad buffet and “not-nice” folk who rob him and refuse him service in a restaurant because they “didn’t like the looks of him.” Most of the latter incidents are only described, not illustrated in bland pictures. These, possibly trying for a 3-D effect but achieving only a clumsily layered look, float flat, broad-featured livestock and other cartoon figures over backgrounds that look like blurred-out photos. The audio tracks on most of the manually advanced pages play in a rigidly patterned sequence: a short sound effect or snatch of music, then the author’s low-key (optional) reading of the text followed by a single repeat of the sound. The minimal animations tend to be easy-to-miss items like a blink or a flash of headlights, and the sole touch-activated effect accompanies handfuls of snapshots of popular tourist sights (such as “Redwood Forest” and “Niagra [sic] Falls”) that can be flicked around. The app includes four short instrumental tracks that are uncredited and will only play on the “Info” page.
This road trip never gets out of the driveway. (iPad storybook app. 6-8)Pub Date: April 19, 2011
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: Aug Dog Software
Review Posted Online: May 9, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2011
A fair choice, but it may need some support to really blast off.
This rocket hopes to take its readers on a birthday blast—but there may or may not be enough fuel.
Once a year, a one-seat rocket shoots out from Earth. Why? To reveal a special congratulatory banner for a once-a-year event. The second-person narration puts readers in the pilot’s seat and, through a (mostly) ballad-stanza rhyme scheme (abcb), sends them on a journey toward the sun, past meteors, and into the Kuiper belt. The final pages include additional information on how birthdays are measured against the Earth’s rotations around the sun. Collingridge aims for the stars with this title, and he mostly succeeds. The rhyme scheme flows smoothly, which will make listeners happy, but the illustrations (possibly a combination of paint with digital enhancements) may leave the viewers feeling a little cold. The pilot is seen only with a 1960s-style fishbowl helmet that completely obscures the face, gender, and race by reflecting the interior of the rocket ship. This may allow readers/listeners to picture themselves in the role, but it also may divest them of any emotional connection to the story. The last pages—the backside of a triple-gatefold spread—label the planets and include Pluto. While Pluto is correctly labeled as a dwarf planet, it’s an unusual choice to include it but not the other dwarfs: Ceres, Eris, etc. The illustration also neglects to include the asteroid belt or any of the solar system’s moons.
A fair choice, but it may need some support to really blast off. (Picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: July 31, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-338-18949-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: David Fickling/Phoenix/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: April 15, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
A lesson that never grows old, enacted with verve by two favorite friends
Gerald the elephant learns a truth familiar to every preschooler—heck, every human: “Waiting is not easy!”
When Piggie cartwheels up to Gerald announcing that she has a surprise for him, Gerald is less than pleased to learn that the “surprise is a surprise.” Gerald pumps Piggie for information (it’s big, it’s pretty, and they can share it), but Piggie holds fast on this basic principle: Gerald will have to wait. Gerald lets out an almighty “GROAN!” Variations on this basic exchange occur throughout the day; Gerald pleads, Piggie insists they must wait; Gerald groans. As the day turns to twilight (signaled by the backgrounds that darken from mauve to gray to charcoal), Gerald gets grumpy. “WE HAVE WASTED THE WHOLE DAY!…And for WHAT!?” Piggie then gestures up to the Milky Way, which an awed Gerald acknowledges “was worth the wait.” Willems relies even more than usual on the slightest of changes in posture, layout and typography, as two waiting figures can’t help but be pretty static. At one point, Piggie assumes the lotus position, infuriating Gerald. Most amusingly, Gerald’s elephantine groans assume weighty physicality in spread-filling speech bubbles that knock Piggie to the ground. And the spectacular, photo-collaged images of the Milky Way that dwarf the two friends makes it clear that it was indeed worth the wait.
A lesson that never grows old, enacted with verve by two favorite friends . (Early reader. 6-8)Pub Date: Nov. 4, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-4231-9957-1
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Hyperion
Review Posted Online: Nov. 4, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2014
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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