Interactive features are so limited that, platform aside, there isn’t much to choose between this and the print edition.
A melodramatic but gore-free introduction to T. Rex for younger and weak-stomached dino-fans.
Based on a 2004 book-and-CD kit, the episode pairs scenes of a realistically rendered tyrannosaur and several prospective victims in fully detailed natural settings. A perfunctory but rousing storyline—“Tyrannosaurus rex sniffs the air with her powerful nose. She smells lunch!”—is followed by a few closing screens of general facts. Viewers can opt at the beginning for auto or manual advance, audio narration or text only (the audio can be re-activated by touching any block of text). They can also turn off the pounding background music (though not the ongoing loud chorus of insect noises nor, apparently, the occasional popup link to this publisher’s other apps in the App Store). There’s no animation, but a swipe will both change the angle of view and bring up a different block of text, while a second swipe turns the page. Aside from one creature identified only as a “prehistoric bird,” tapping any dino helpfully activates a large label with an audio tag. Despite its bullying ways this toothy predator may draw some sympathy, as one prey animal after another escapes. No sooner does she finally seize and eat a hapless Anatotitan (entirely offstage and sans even crunchy sound effects) than an erupting volcano sends her fleeing.
Interactive features are so limited that, platform aside, there isn’t much to choose between this and the print edition. (iPad informational storybook app. 7-9)Pub Date: April 19, 2011
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: Oceanhouse Media
Review Posted Online: May 3, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
Chicken sexer? Breath odor evaluator? Cryptozoologist? Island caretaker? The choices dazzle! (Informational picture book....
From funeral clown to cheese sculptor, a tally of atypical trades.
This free-wheeling survey, framed as a visit to “The Great Hall of Jobs,” is designed to shake readers loose from simplistic notions of the world of work. Labarre opens with a generic sculpture gallery of, as she puts it, “The Classics”—doctor, dancer, farmer, athlete, chef, and the like—but quickly moves on, arranging busy cartoon figures by the dozen in kaleidoscopic arrays, with pithy captions describing each occupation. As changes of pace she also tucks in occasional challenges to match select workers (Las Vegas wedding minister, “ethical” hacker, motion-capture actor) with their distinctive tools or outfits. The actual chances of becoming, say, the queen’s warden of the swans or a professional mattress jumper, not to mention the nitty-gritty of physical or academic qualifications, income levels, and career paths, are left largely unspecified…but along with noting that new jobs are being invented all the time (as, in the illustration, museum workers wheel in a “vlogger” statue), the author closes with the perennial insight that it’s essential to love what you do and the millennial one that there’s nothing wrong with repeatedly switching horses midstream. The many adult figures and the gaggle of children (one in a wheelchair) visiting the “Hall” are diverse of feature, sex, and skin color.
Chicken sexer? Breath odor evaluator? Cryptozoologist? Island caretaker? The choices dazzle! (Informational picture book. 7-9)Pub Date: April 14, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-5362-1219-8
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Nosy Crow
Review Posted Online: Nov. 23, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2019
Colorful and accessible, this brief biography of Frida Kahlo paints the artist’s vibrant life using broad brushstrokes that smooth over her tragedies and highlight her creativity.
Readers can follow along in either English or Spanish with the pleasant female narrator, who proceeds at a reasonable, though somewhat quick pace as each word in the appropriate language is highlighted in red. In several situations in the English version, the narrator at times inserts random articles before words—for example a stray a or an before a noun—which may throw off readers following closely. Soft watercolor illustrations present a friendly, cartoonish Frida with her trademark unibrow and flare for bright colors. The text concludes with a short note about Kahlo’s legacy but does not offer any further resources for an inspired reader. By default, traditional Mexican folk music accompanies the text, which can become tedious; readers may want to seek out the mute option. Navigation from the main menu is intuitive and features a coloring book, which lets users tap their inner artists by coloring select scenes from the book.
Pub Date: Dec. 18, 2010
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: Patuto Press
Review Posted Online: June 3, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2011
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