For young readers who can't get enough of dragon stories, this is one they're likely to remember.
An unusual creature finds a rewarding career in theater in this multiple-scenario story.
A small dragon (it looks like a combination of a lizard and a pot-bellied rat) lives in a tree. But when the dragon is disturbed, it flies into the stratosphere, then comes back down to Earth, landing in one of three places chosen by readers: Hollywood, Loch Ness, or Yangshuo, China. Regardless of where it lands, the dragon becomes the star of a play, bringing the story back to the beginning, when a storyteller narrating the app introduces the reptilian stage star. It's perhaps one or two degrees too much narrative jumping around for what's at heart the simple story of a solitary specimen finding love and acceptance. The app's hand-drawn art seems intentionally crude, but it is animated in sophisticated ways, as on pages where the reader can guide the lighting of a stage light. The text, translated from Spanish, is clean if unremarkable. The fact that the dragon lacks a name becomes problematic when a second dragon is introduced to the story. Somehow, though, the animation, simple illustrative style, and unobtrusive narration and music pull together to create something distinctive and winning: It has a style that is refreshingly scruffy compared to other slick offerings in the App Store.
For young readers who can't get enough of dragon stories, this is one they're likely to remember. (iPad storybook app. 4-9)Pub Date: July 14, 2014
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: Hilke Sievers
Review Posted Online: Oct. 21, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2014
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
This frenetic ode to fatherhood is predictable fare but may please series fans.
It’s time to look for the elusive Daddysaurus.
In this latest installment in the seemingly never-ending series about a group of diverse kids attempting to trap mythical creatures, the youngsters are now on the lookout for a big mauve dinosaur with an emblazoned D on his stomach and a superhero cape. The fast-moving Daddysaurus is always on the go; he will be difficult to catch. Armed with blueprints of possible ideas, the kids decide which traps to set. As in previous works, ones of the sticky variety seem popular. They cover barbells with fly paper (Daddysaurus like to exercise) and spread glue on the handle of a shovel (Daddysaurus also likes to garden). One clever trick involves tempting Daddysaurus with a drawing of a hole, taped to the wall, because he fixes everything that breaks. Daddysaurus is certainly engaged in the children’s lives, not a workaholic or absent, but he does fall into some standard tropes associated with fathers. The rhyming quatrains stumble at times but for the most part bounce along. Overall, though, text and art feel somewhat formulaic and likely will tempt only devotees of the series. The final page of the book (after Daddysaurus is caught with love) has a space for readers to write a note or draw a picture of their own Daddysaurus. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
This frenetic ode to fatherhood is predictable fare but may please series fans. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: April 1, 2023
ISBN: 978-1-72826-618-3
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Sourcebooks Wonderland
Review Posted Online: Jan. 11, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2023
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