This story is shallow, and the interactivity is weak. Perhaps Arianna should use the remaining tissue to wish for a more...
An enchanted pack of hankies grants wishes to a sick little girl.
Arianna has a nasty cold, so her mother offers her a package of tissues that belonged to her grandmother, who is now deceased. After sneezing, Arianna blows her nose while wishing she felt better, and she is miraculously cured. Suddenly, the room is filled with bright light, and Arianna comes face to face with what is, for all practical purposes, her fairy god-hankie. Arianna has four remaining wishes—one for each tissue left in the package. Drawing exclusively from her fascination with classic children’s stories, the girl wishes to be the Little Mermaid, Peter Pan and Cinderella, though she breezes through the experiences without exploring them very fully. (Seriously, what little girl skips going to the ball because “she’d already had her fun”?) The layout alternates text and illustration screens, and interaction is minimal with two small exceptions. On one page, eight items often found it a sick person’s bedside can be shuffled around the page, either by flinging or dragging them, or by tilting the device. And on another page, Arianna is covered in a pile of books that shoot all over the screen when tapped. There are other tactile features, but they’re altogether unremarkable.
This story is shallow, and the interactivity is weak. Perhaps Arianna should use the remaining tissue to wish for a more substantive app. (iPad storybook app. 4-8)Pub Date: June 19, 2013
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: Read Forward LLC
Review Posted Online: Aug. 27, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2013
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
Not enough tricks to make this a treat.
Another holiday title (How To Catch the Easter Bunny by Adam Wallace, illustrated by Elkerton, 2017) sticks to the popular series’ formula.
Rhyming four-line verses describe seven intrepid trick-or-treaters’ efforts to capture the witch haunting their Halloween. Rhyming roadblocks with toolbox is an acceptable stretch, but too often too many words or syllables in the lines throw off the cadence. Children familiar with earlier titles will recognize the traps set by the costume-clad kids—a pulley and box snare, a “Tunnel of Tricks.” Eventually they accept her invitation to “floss, bump, and boogie,” concluding “the dance party had hit the finale at last, / each dancing monster started to cheer! / There’s no doubt about it, we have to admit: / This witch threw the party of the year!” The kids are diverse, and their costumes are fanciful rather than scary—a unicorn, a dragon, a scarecrow, a red-haired child in a lab coat and bow tie, a wizard, and two space creatures. The monsters, goblins, ghosts, and jack-o'-lanterns, backgrounded by a turquoise and purple night sky, are sufficiently eerie. Still, there isn’t enough originality here to entice any but the most ardent fans of Halloween or the series. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Not enough tricks to make this a treat. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Aug. 2, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-72821-035-3
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Sourcebooks Wonderland
Review Posted Online: May 10, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2022
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