Snow White is given short shrift in this amateurish adaptation. Everything down to the tiny, barely there poisoned apple is...
A generic, uninspired take on "Snow White" brings rudimentary interactivity to the story without adding anything magical or even above average to make readers forget better versions.
There are no narrative surprises, as the plot follows the familiar path, and there's nothing in its delivery to distinguish it. The story gallops at a pace that doesn't give any characters, even Snow White herself, any time to come across as more than names and drawings. The dwarves, for instance, are given a single page of introduction in which they also agree to let Snow White be their housekeeper. When the text isn't bland, it's clunky: "Fearing for her life, she ran through the afternoon, growing weary, hungry and losing hope that she would find shelter." If there's a saving grace here, it's that a surprising number of objects, characters and backgrounds respond to touch with small snatches of animation or sound effects. But they're part of a design that clumsily mixes realistic-looking backgrounds with painted foregrounds and crudely cartoonish animals and characters. The app has no navigation beyond page arrows and no extras or options beyond narration or narration-free. It doesn't even include a page index or menu to jump to a specific page in the app.
Snow White is given short shrift in this amateurish adaptation. Everything down to the tiny, barely there poisoned apple is unconvincing and an opportunity missed. (iPad storybook app. 4-7)Pub Date: May 31, 2012
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: Fairytale Studios
Review Posted Online: June 26, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2012
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A sweet, soft conversation starter and a charming gift.
A paean to teachers and their surrogates everywhere.
This gentle ode to a teacher’s skill at inspiring, encouraging, and being a role model is spoken, presumably, from a child’s viewpoint. However, the voice could equally be that of an adult, because who can’t look back upon teachers or other early mentors who gave of themselves and offered their pupils so much? Indeed, some of the self-aware, self-assured expressions herein seem perhaps more realistic as uttered from one who’s already grown. Alternatively, readers won’t fail to note that this small book, illustrated with gentle soy-ink drawings and featuring an adult-child bear duo engaged in various sedentary and lively pursuits, could just as easily be about human parent- (or grandparent-) child pairs: some of the softly colored illustrations depict scenarios that are more likely to occur within a home and/or other family-oriented setting. Makes sense: aren’t parents and other close family members children’s first teachers? This duality suggests that the book might be best shared one-on-one between a nostalgic adult and a child who’s developed some self-confidence, having learned a thing or two from a parent, grandparent, older relative, or classroom instructor.
A sweet, soft conversation starter and a charming gift. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: March 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-943200-08-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Compendium
Review Posted Online: Dec. 13, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2017
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