A fluffy and inconsistent story about a little mermaid diva.
This app looks really good on paper (in terms of the developer’s description), but in reality, it may confuse kids more than help them. Elfishki are “magical little people” that live on Rainbow Island in the Sparkling Sea. This story revolves around Rinka, who dreams of being a circus performer. During the school break, her mother (a buxom, ditzy mermaid) drops Rinka off at a cat’s house, where the junior mermaid swims around in a tiny fountain and runs roughshod over her feline baby sitter. Eventually, Rinka is discovered by people stuck in traffic, and the cat deems her a “real circus performer,” though the story provides absolutely no context and no evidence that she’s anything of the sort. A confusing text-to-illustration mismatch places text on one page and the corresponding illustration on the following throughout, and six of the 13 screens are hollow, text-free attempts at “interaction.” Readers can summon discussion questions on most pages, but many are frivolous. The illustrations are vibrantly colored and gush with flowery scenery and syrupy characters (all white). The bonus seek-and-find game consists of locating sea creatures hidden in an ocean landscape, all of which exclaim variations of “wah-hoo!” when revealed. A profoundly disappointing tale. (iPad storybook app. 4-8)
Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2012
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: kidsiphoneapps.net
Review Posted Online: Aug. 28, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2012
This bunny escapes all the traps but fails to find a logical plot or an emotional connection with readers.
The bestselling series (How to Catch an Elf, 2016, etc.) about capturing mythical creatures continues with a story about various ways to catch the Easter Bunny as it makes its annual deliveries.
The bunny narrates its own story in rhyming text, beginning with an introduction at its office in a manufacturing facility that creates Easter eggs and candy. The rabbit then abruptly takes off on its delivery route with a tiny basket of eggs strapped to its back, immediately encountering a trap with carrots and a box propped up with a stick. The narrative focuses on how the Easter Bunny avoids increasingly complex traps set up to catch him with no explanation as to who has set the traps or why. These traps include an underground tunnel, a fluorescent dance floor with a hidden pit of carrots, a robot bunny, pirates on an island, and a cannon that shoots candy fish, as well as some sort of locked, hazardous site with radiation danger. Readers of previous books in the series will understand the premise, but others will be confused by the rabbit’s frenetic escapades. Cartoon-style illustrations have a 1960s vibe, with a slightly scary, bow-tied bunny with chartreuse eyes and a glowing palette of neon shades that shout for attention.
This bunny escapes all the traps but fails to find a logical plot or an emotional connection with readers. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4926-3817-9
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Sourcebooks Jabberwocky
Review Posted Online: Jan. 16, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
