Children hoping for a substantive tour of the solar system may be disappointed, but those who click with the games should...
A skim across the solar system serves as a framework for a set of elementary matching and counting games.
A grandfatherly narrator invites children to pick a planet from a tappable menu of nine images with fact boxes (the sun is not included in the tour; Pluto is called a “dwarf planet”). Readers then drag a three-piece rocket together, blast off and pause in low orbit for a live-action video clip of astronauts at work or play. On the way to the chosen destination and a video-only digest of basic facts, opportunities await to blast asteroids in numerical order, count aliens’ legs, sort floating stuff into labeled bins and other fun. Significantly, the video/fact screens feature a prominent “Skip” button, but the games do not, indicating that the latter are the main event. So rigid is the design that the trip is the same whether the destination is Earth or Pluto, though the games played on the way may vary. The 10 games can supposedly be customized according to user level, but what that seems to mean is that individual exercises can be turned on or off. The mix of cartoon scenes, space photography, video and space art blend reasonably well, and children who do not skip the videos could well pick up a fact or two.
Children hoping for a substantive tour of the solar system may be disappointed, but those who click with the games should build some skills. (iPad informational/math app. 6-8)Pub Date: May 29, 2014
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: Fairlady Media
Review Posted Online: Aug. 6, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2014
The wriggly narrator of Diary of a Worm (2003) puts in occasional appearances, but it’s his arachnid buddy who takes center stage here, with terse, tongue-in-cheek comments on his likes (his close friend Fly, Charlotte’s Web), his dislikes (vacuums, people with big feet), nervous encounters with a huge Daddy Longlegs, his extended family—which includes a Grandpa more than willing to share hard-won wisdom (The secret to a long, happy life: “Never fall asleep in a shoe.”)—and mishaps both at spider school and on the human playground. Bliss endows his garden-dwellers with faces and the odd hat or other accessory, and creates cozy webs or burrows colorfully decorated with corks, scraps, plastic toys and other human detritus. Spider closes with the notion that we could all get along, “just like me and Fly,” if we but got to know one another. Once again, brilliantly hilarious. (Picture book. 6-8)
Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2005
ISBN: 0-06-000153-4
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Joanna Cotler/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2005
A fair choice, but it may need some support to really blast off.
This rocket hopes to take its readers on a birthday blast—but there may or may not be enough fuel.
Once a year, a one-seat rocket shoots out from Earth. Why? To reveal a special congratulatory banner for a once-a-year event. The second-person narration puts readers in the pilot’s seat and, through a (mostly) ballad-stanza rhyme scheme (abcb), sends them on a journey toward the sun, past meteors, and into the Kuiper belt. The final pages include additional information on how birthdays are measured against the Earth’s rotations around the sun. Collingridge aims for the stars with this title, and he mostly succeeds. The rhyme scheme flows smoothly, which will make listeners happy, but the illustrations (possibly a combination of paint with digital enhancements) may leave the viewers feeling a little cold. The pilot is seen only with a 1960s-style fishbowl helmet that completely obscures the face, gender, and race by reflecting the interior of the rocket ship. This may allow readers/listeners to picture themselves in the role, but it also may divest them of any emotional connection to the story. The last pages—the backside of a triple-gatefold spread—label the planets and include Pluto. While Pluto is correctly labeled as a dwarf planet, it’s an unusual choice to include it but not the other dwarfs: Ceres, Eris, etc. The illustration also neglects to include the asteroid belt or any of the solar system’s moons.
A fair choice, but it may need some support to really blast off. (Picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: July 31, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-338-18949-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: David Fickling/Phoenix/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: April 15, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2018
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