Lucky for the developers that Bartleby's books are worth the wait. This app series continues to delight; it feels innovative...
A continuation of the charmingly playful series about button-collecting, bowler-hat–wearing Bartleby, this volume is no less winning than the first even as it adds more locales and characters.
When last we left Bartleby, his brief trip to Mystery Island yielded treasure. This time out, an encounter with Bartleby's friend Sally (who's into switches the way he's into buttons) leads to an adventure on and under the sea, which reveals a long-lost family member and a cliffhanger ending that points to a third volume that will likely take place in space. As in the first book, the detailed animation (watch as Bartleby's bushy mustache flaps in the wind as he rides his moped), clever-but-not-too-difficult puzzles and retro-tech vibe are a great combination. Bartleby doesn't speak much, but he doesn't have to; he expresses himself in the way he solves puzzles, pursues clues and treasures his buttons. Hidden maps, deep-sea buttons, secret underwater caves and sleepy whales figure into a story that's packed with great imagery and texture. Volume two feels twice as long as the first book did, and it's satisfying, but the cliffhanger may be a problem for some faithful readers given how long it takes for a new app to be released; it's been nearly a year since we saw the previous adventure.
Lucky for the developers that Bartleby's books are worth the wait. This app series continues to delight; it feels innovative and well-told at the same time, a tricky balance. (iPad storybook/puzzle app. 4-10)Pub Date: Oct. 11, 2011
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: Octopus Kite
Review Posted Online: Nov. 18, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2011
Pete’s fans might find it groovy; anyone else has plenty of other “12 Days of Christmas” variants to choose among
Pete, the cat who couldn’t care less, celebrates Christmas with his inimitable lassitude.
If it weren’t part of the title and repeated on every other page, readers unfamiliar with Pete’s shtick might have a hard time arriving at “groovy” to describe his Christmas celebration, as the expressionless cat displays not a hint of groove in Dean’s now-trademark illustrations. Nor does Pete have a great sense of scansion: “On the first day of Christmas, / Pete gave to me… / A road trip to the sea. / GROOVY!” The cat is shown at the wheel of a yellow microbus strung with garland and lights and with a star-topped tree tied to its roof. On the second day of Christmas Pete gives “me” (here depicted as a gray squirrel who gets on the bus) “2 fuzzy gloves, and a road trip to the sea. / GROOVY!” On the third day, he gives “me” (now a white cat who joins Pete and the squirrel) “3 yummy cupcakes,” etc. The “me” mentioned in the lyrics changes from day to day and gift to gift, with “4 far-out surfboards” (a frog), “5 onion rings” (crocodile), and “6 skateboards rolling” (a yellow bird that shares its skateboards with the white cat, the squirrel, the frog, and the crocodile while Pete drives on). Gifts and animals pile on until the microbus finally arrives at the seaside and readers are told yet again that it’s all “GROOVY!”
Pete’s fans might find it groovy; anyone else has plenty of other “12 Days of Christmas” variants to choose among . (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Sept. 18, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-06-267527-9
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Aug. 19, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
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BOOK REVIEW
More trampling in the vineyards of the Literary Classics section, with results that will tickle fancies high and low.
Recasting Dog Man and his feline ward, Li’l Petey, as costumed superheroes, Pilkey looks East of Eden in this follow-up to Tale of Two Kitties (2017).
The Steinbeck novel’s Cain/Abel motif gets some play here, as Petey, “world’s evilest cat” and cloned Li’l Petey’s original, tries assiduously to tempt his angelic counterpart over to the dark side only to be met, ultimately at least, by Li’l Petey’s “Thou mayest.” (There are also occasional direct quotes from the novel.) But inner struggles between good and evil assume distinctly subordinate roles to riotous outer ones, as Petey repurposes robots built for a movie about the exploits of Dog Man—“the thinking man’s Rin Tin Tin”—while leading a general rush to the studio’s costume department for appropriate good guy/bad guy outfits in preparation for the climactic battle. During said battle and along the way Pilkey tucks in multiple Flip-O-Rama inserts as well as general gags. He lists no fewer than nine ways to ask “who cut the cheese?” and includes both punny chapter titles (“The Bark Knight Rises”) and nods to Hamiltonand Mary Poppins. The cartoon art, neatly and brightly colored by Garibaldi, is both as easy to read as the snappy dialogue and properly endowed with outsized sound effects, figures displaying a range of skin colors, and glimpses of underwear (even on robots).
More trampling in the vineyards of the Literary Classics section, with results that will tickle fancies high and low. (drawing instructions) (Graphic fantasy. 7-10)Pub Date: Dec. 26, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-545-93518-0
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Graphix/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: May 13, 2018
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