The premise might be built around kids learning their ABCs, but by the time they get to Z, they may have already graduated...
An alphabet-based story app places its emphasis on games rather than narrative.
Alph and Betty are inventors. The stylishly illustrated “story” begins with their elaborate, A-shaped horn alarm blaring, but initially, Betty is the only one who awakens. Readers must help Betty scale the screen like a mountain goat in order to find edibles that begin with that page’s letter and complete inane tasks (for example, rudimentary matching games that require much less skill than it takes to navigate the overall app). It appears that Betty cannot go on to the next letter until everything (yes, everything) has been found and engaged. But that’s easier said than done, as there’s no pattern, path or story-based logic to guide readers, and sometimes instructions or text boxes obscure the items readers need to find in order to advance the page. The help arrows are only mildly effective, and many readers may find themselves giving up before they’ve completed even half the alphabet. Although readers are guaranteed to spend quite a lot of time on each page, they are more likely to be concentrating on the tasks than absorbing alphabet skills. The “read it myself” option reads aloud anyway. For a much more sensible puzzle-solving storybook-app experience, see Bartleby’s Book of Buttons (2010).
The premise might be built around kids learning their ABCs, but by the time they get to Z, they may have already graduated high school. (Requires iOS 6 and above.) (iPad alphabet app. 4-8)Pub Date: Dec. 29, 2013
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: Electric Circus
Review Posted Online: Feb. 25, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2014
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
Menacing and most likely to appeal to established fans of its co-creators.
Existing artwork from an artistic giant inspires a fairy-tale reimagination by a master of the horror genre.
In King’s interpretation of a classic Brothers Grimm story, which accompanies set and costume designs that the late Sendak created for a 1997 production of Engelbert Humperdinck’s opera, siblings Hansel and Gretel survive abandonment in the woods and an evil witch’s plot to gobble them up before finding their “happily ever after” alongside their father. Prose with the reassuring cadence of an old-timey tale, paired with Sendak’s instantly recognizable artwork, will lull readers before capitalizing on these creators’ knack for injecting darkness into seemingly safe spaces. Gaping faces loom in crevices of rocks and trees, and a gloomy palette of muted greens and ocher amplify the story’s foreboding tone, while King never sugarcoats the peach-skinned children’s peril. Branches with “clutching fingers” hide “the awful enchanted house” of a “child-stealing witch,” all portrayed in an eclectic mix of spot and full-bleed images. Featuring insults that might strike some as harsh (“idiot,” “fool”), the lengthy, dense text may try young readers’ patience, and the often overwhelmingly ominous mood feels more pitched to adults—particularly those familiar with King and Sendak—but an introduction acknowledges grandparents as a likely audience, and nostalgia may prompt leniency over an occasional disconnect between words and art.
Menacing and most likely to appeal to established fans of its co-creators. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Sept. 2, 2025
ISBN: 9780062644695
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Aug. 15, 2025
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