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THE ADVENTURES OF MR. MOUSE

Name: THE ADVENTURES OF MR. MOUSE
Author: Edward Cooper

THE FAIR

From the Mr. Mouse series , Vol. 2

by Edward Cooper & Mirah Clarke & illustrated by Mirah Clarke ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 20, 2013

A disappointing attempt at both storytelling and interactive camaraderie.

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Another badly rhymed, navigationally cluttered “adventure” with Mr. Mouse.

The subpar writing and sloppy interactive elements aren’t the most troublesome things about the Mr. Mouse apps. It’s the unspoken message conveyed in both, namely that a person is worthy of friendship only when he or she can be of use to those they’re trying to befriend. In the first installment (The Adventures of Mr. Mouse, 2012), the titular rodent snubs Mo and Jo until he needs their help. In this follow-up, the three hide from Beanie (a dog) since they don’t want to play with him—that is, until he offers to be their transportation to the fair. Suddenly, they sprout consciences and warmly embrace him. Like the last story, this one is dreadfully rhymed, following neither meter nor any particular form. The backgrounds are a little more intricate than the first offering, many of them photographs upon which floating animations are layered. This time around, there are two versions of the story—for “older” and “younger” readers. The “older” version contains more text, but the age consideration seems haphazard (at least in terms of reading level), as the “younger” one often includes more complex words or phrases. The same clunky controls are strewn across the bottom of every screen, with narration prompts being necessary on every page.

A disappointing attempt at both storytelling and interactive camaraderie. (iPad storybook app. 3-7)

Pub Date: Jan. 20, 2013

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Edward Cooper

Review Posted Online: March 12, 2013

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2013

- BOOK REVIEW
THE ADVENTURES OF MR. MOUSE
by Edward Cooper & written and illustrated by Mirah Clarke

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LOVE FROM THE VERY HUNGRY CATERPILLAR

by Eric Carle ; illustrated by Eric Carle ‧ RELEASE DATE: Dec. 15, 2015

Safe to creep on by.

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Carle’s famous caterpillar expresses its love.

In three sentences that stretch out over most of the book’s 32 pages, the (here, at least) not-so-ravenous larva first describes the object of its love, then describes how that loved one makes it feel before concluding, “That’s why… / I[heart]U.” There is little original in either visual or textual content, much of it mined from The Very Hungry Caterpillar. “You are… / …so sweet,” proclaims the caterpillar as it crawls through the hole it’s munched in a strawberry; “…the cherry on my cake,” it says as it perches on the familiar square of chocolate cake; “…the apple of my eye,” it announces as it emerges from an apple. Images familiar from other works join the smiling sun that shone down on the caterpillar as it delivers assurances that “you make… / …the sun shine brighter / …the stars sparkle,” and so on. The book is small, only 7 inches high and 5 ¾ inches across when closed—probably not coincidentally about the size of a greeting card. While generations of children have grown up with the ravenous caterpillar, this collection of Carle imagery and platitudinous sentiment has little of his classic’s charm. The melding of Carle’s caterpillar with Robert Indiana’s iconic LOVE on the book’s cover, alas, draws further attention to its derivative nature.

Safe to creep on by. (Picture book. 3-6)

Pub Date: Dec. 15, 2015

ISBN: 978-0-448-48932-2

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Grosset & Dunlap

Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2021

Categories:

CHILDREN'S HOLIDAYS & CELEBRATIONS | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

- BOOK REVIEW
WHAT'S YOUR FAVORITE FOOD?
edited by Eric Carle

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WHAT'S YOUR FAVORITE BUG?
edited by Eric Carle

- BOOK REVIEW
MY FIRST I SEE YOU
by Eric Carle ; illustrated by Eric Carle

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LOVE FROM THE CRAYONS

by Drew Daywalt ; illustrated by Oliver Jeffers ‧ RELEASE DATE: Dec. 24, 2019

As ephemeral as a valentine.

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Daywalt and Jeffers’ wandering crayons explore love.

Each double-page spread offers readers a vision of one of the anthropomorphic crayons on the left along with the statement “Love is [color].” The word love is represented by a small heart in the appropriate color. Opposite, childlike crayon drawings explain how that color represents love. So, readers learn, “love is green. / Because love is helpful.” The accompanying crayon drawing depicts two alligators, one holding a recycling bin and the other tossing a plastic cup into it, offering readers two ways of understanding green. Some statements are thought-provoking: “Love is white. / Because sometimes love is hard to see,” reaches beyond the immediate image of a cat’s yellow eyes, pink nose, and black mouth and whiskers, its white face and body indistinguishable from the paper it’s drawn on, to prompt real questions. “Love is brown. / Because sometimes love stinks,” on the other hand, depicted by a brown bear standing next to a brown, squiggly turd, may provoke giggles but is fundamentally a cheap laugh. Some of the color assignments have a distinctly arbitrary feel: Why is purple associated with the imagination and pink with silliness? Fans of The Day the Crayons Quit (2013) hoping for more clever, metaliterary fun will be disappointed by this rather syrupy read.

As ephemeral as a valentine. (Picture book. 4-6)