Still, the story of the evil giant, the desperate storyteller and a thieving bird (the title character) is unusual enough in...
A Filipino folktale seems less than striking at first glance, but subtle visual effects in the app make it worth a second glance.
"In the boondocks of Bukidnon," a province of the Philippines, a datu, a storyteller and singer, loses his abilities. A jealous giant has stolen the datu's talent to give himself a melodious voice. When the loss of their artist sends the village into a depression, the datu's three sons go on missions to recover the amulet that gave the datu and the giant the power of song. The evocative illustrations, hand drawn with sharp strokes and an emphasis on faces, subtly change when the iPad is rotated to fit the page orientation. They change again when readers change the text and narration on the page from English to Filipino, bringing characters closer to the fore or making the scene move slightly. The optional narration is well paced and the text is direct, but colorful. "Agyu's only companion for an army was a limping horse," one line reads, next to an illustration of a bony, downtrodden creature. The app promises more interactivity than it delivers, however. It's mostly a straightforward text-and-illustrations piece in its "Let me read" form and little more than an 8 1/2–minute animated short (albeit a striking one) in auto mode.
Still, the story of the evil giant, the desperate storyteller and a thieving bird (the title character) is unusual enough in its storytelling and design to stand out in the app crowd. (iPad storybook app. 6-12)Pub Date: May 15, 2011
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: Vibal Publishing House
Review Posted Online: June 28, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2011
Readers can still rely on this series to bring laughs.
The Heffley family’s house undergoes a disastrous attempt at home improvement.
When Great Aunt Reba dies, she leaves some money to the family. Greg’s mom calls a family meeting to determine what to do with their share, proposing home improvements and then overruling the family’s cartoonish wish lists and instead pushing for an addition to the kitchen. Before bringing in the construction crew, the Heffleys attempt to do minor maintenance and repairs themselves—during which Greg fails at the work in various slapstick scenes. Once the professionals are brought in, the problems keep getting worse: angry neighbors, terrifying problems in walls, and—most serious—civil permitting issues that put the kibosh on what work’s been done. Left with only enough inheritance to patch and repair the exterior of the house—and with the school’s dismal standardized test scores as a final straw—Greg’s mom steers the family toward moving, opening up house-hunting and house-selling storylines (and devastating loyal Rowley, who doesn’t want to lose his best friend). While Greg’s positive about the move, he’s not completely uncaring about Rowley’s action. (And of course, Greg himself is not as unaffected as he wishes.) The gags include effectively placed callbacks to seemingly incidental events (the “stress lizard” brought in on testing day is particularly funny) and a lampoon of after-school-special–style problem books. Just when it seems that the Heffleys really will move, a new sequence of chaotic trouble and property destruction heralds a return to the status quo. Whew.
Readers can still rely on this series to bring laughs. (Graphic/fiction hybrid. 8-12)Pub Date: Nov. 5, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-4197-3903-3
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Amulet/Abrams
Review Posted Online: Nov. 18, 2019
SEEN & HEARD
Hugely entertaining, timely, and triumphant.
Robot Roz undertakes an unusual ocean journey to save her adopted island home in this third series entry.
When a poison tide flowing across the ocean threatens their island, Roz works with the resident creatures to ensure that they will have clean water, but the destruction of vegetation and crowding of habitats jeopardize everyone’s survival. Brown’s tale of environmental depredation and turmoil is by turns poignant, graceful, endearing, and inspiring, with his (mostly) gentle robot protagonist at its heart. Though Roz is different from the creatures she lives with or encounters—including her son, Brightbill the goose, and his new mate, Glimmerwing—she makes connections through her versatile communication abilities and her desire to understand and help others. When Roz accidentally discovers that the replacement body given to her by Dr. Molovo is waterproof, she sets out to seek help and discovers the human-engineered source of the toxic tide. Brown’s rich descriptions of undersea landscapes, entertaining conversations between Roz and wild creatures, and concise yet powerful explanations of the effect of the poison tide on the ecology of the island are superb. Simple, spare illustrations offer just enough glimpses of Roz and her surroundings to spark the imagination. The climactic confrontation pits oceangoing mammals, seabirds, fish, and even zooplankton against hardware and technology in a nicely choreographed battle. But it is Roz’s heroism and peacemaking that save the day.
Hugely entertaining, timely, and triumphant. (author’s note) (Fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: Sept. 26, 2023
ISBN: 9780316669412
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Aug. 26, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2023
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