Jacques and Missy make good travel companions, and the sights in Costa Rica are lovely, but making it through the app can...
Friends Jacques and Missy, a cat and a mouse respectively, find adventure when Missy loses her red scarf in the air, forcing them to land their yellow prop plane in Costa Rica.
From here, the story branches in a few directions, allowing the pair to explore a pond, a volcano, a jungle where sloths live and other parts of a national park. Games and challenges emerge to move the story along—not all are easy, however, and they must be solved in order to continue the story. Even more frustrating is that there’s no way to turn pages. Readers must instead look for clues in the text or a small flash on the screen to figure out where to tap to move ahead. Sometimes that can trigger unnecessary and annoying backtracking. A small blue tab that offers options disappears unless readers remember where to tap. There, readers find options to mute sounds and elicit labels and facts (written in three ascending levels of difficulty), as well as a seek-and-find challenge and a world map. The app offers no spoken narration, but there are plenty of opportunities for parents to read along with kids and to share new words and facts.
Jacques and Missy make good travel companions, and the sights in Costa Rica are lovely, but making it through the app can sometimes feel less like a vacation and more like homework. (Requires iOS 7 and above.) (iPad storybook app. 5-9)Pub Date: June 24, 2014
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: d?books interactive
Review Posted Online: Aug. 11, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2014
Broccoli: No way is James going to eat broccoli. “It’s disgusting,” says James. Well then, James, says his father, let’s consider the alternatives: some wormy dirt, perhaps, some stinky socks, some pre-chewed gum? James reconsiders the broccoli, but—milk? “Blech,” says James. Right, says his father, who needs strong bones? You’ll be great at hide-and-seek, though not so great at baseball and kickball and even tickling the dog’s belly. James takes a mouthful. So it goes through lumpy oatmeal, mushroom lasagna and slimy eggs, with James’ father parrying his son’s every picky thrust. And it is fun, because the father’s retorts are so outlandish: the lasagna-making troll in the basement who will be sent back to the rat circus, there to endure the rodent’s vicious bites; the uneaten oatmeal that will grow and grow and probably devour the dog that the boy won’t be able to tickle any longer since his bones are so rubbery. Schneider’s watercolors catch the mood of gentle ribbing, the looks of bewilderment and surrender and the deadpanned malarkey. It all makes James’ father’s last urging—“I was just going to say that you might like them if you tried them”—wholly fresh and unexpected advice. (Early reader. 5-9)
Pub Date: May 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-547-14956-1
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: April 4, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Though told by two outsiders to the culture, this timely and well-crafted story will educate readers on the preciousness of...
An international story tackles a serious global issue with Reynolds’ characteristic visual whimsy.
Gie Gie—aka Princess Gie Gie—lives with her parents in Burkina Faso. In her kingdom under “the African sky, so wild and so close,” she can tame wild dogs with her song and make grass sway, but despite grand attempts, she can neither bring the water closer to home nor make it clean. French words such as “maintenant!” (now!) and “maman” (mother) and local color like the karite tree and shea nuts place the story in a French-speaking African country. Every morning, Gie Gie and her mother perch rings of cloth and large clay pots on their heads and walk miles to the nearest well to fetch murky, brown water. The story is inspired by model Georgie Badiel, who founded the Georgie Badiel Foundation to make clean water accessible to West Africans. The details in Reynolds’ expressive illustrations highlight the beauty of the West African landscape and of Princess Gie Gie, with her cornrowed and beaded hair, but will also help readers understand that everyone needs clean water—from the children of Burkina Faso to the children of Flint, Michigan.
Though told by two outsiders to the culture, this timely and well-crafted story will educate readers on the preciousness of potable water. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: Sept. 13, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-399-17258-8
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: May 17, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2016
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