Though there are a few showy boomerang games, exploding fireworks and dancing night bugs, this story is nothing more than...
Laser-crisp illustrations and a handful of gussied-up interactions aren’t enough to overcome this app’s significant design flaws, squeaky-voiced, vapid dialogue, and paper-thin storyline.
This app has major functionality issues from the beginning. Readers can supposedly switch narration on or off from the home page, but even when it’s set to “off,” the narrator dramatically reads text on the opening screen. Readers will likely find it highly confusing if not maddening to navigate from there, as the accessibility of the text, the dialogue and the directions are inconsistent and confusing in narrator-off mode. The story itself is weak and fragmented. Pandora, aka “Pan,” is the panda daughter of elders who disappeared while trying to explore ancient winds gone awry. Eventually, she learns about her parents and resolves to help find them, but none of the narrative detours before that realization serve that plot at all. The app ends as Pan runs away to find her parents, which of course necessitates waiting for Book 2 (countdown included) to see if she finds them. Though the Beribolts are supposedly an exotic, cloud-dwelling tribe, Pandora and her friends sound like a cross between gangsters and spoiled reality show divas.
Though there are a few showy boomerang games, exploding fireworks and dancing night bugs, this story is nothing more than literary cotton candy. (iPad storybook app. 3-7)Pub Date: June 6, 2013
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: Hullabalu
Review Posted Online: Aug. 27, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2013
It’s not whether you win or lose; it’s how many mediocre sequels you can squeeze out of Seussian property.
Since a reformed Grinch is hardly any fun, this follow-up Grinches him up once more.
Those seeking more of the same, prepare to receive precisely that. Christmas is coming (again!), and the Grinch can hardly wait. He’s been patient all year, and now he can finally show the Whos down in Who-ville how much he’s changed. When the Grinch learns of a tree-decorating contest, he figures that if he wins, it’ll prove he truly has the Christmas spirit. He throws himself into the task, but when it comes time to judge the trees, the Grinch is horrified to discover that he’s received only the second-place trophy. Can Cindy-Lou Who find the words to save the day? Replicating many of the original beats and wordplay of the original, this tale feels like less a sequel and more like a vaguely rewritten variation. Meanwhile, Ruiz’s art seeks to bridge the gap between the animated Chuck Jones version of the Grinch and the one depicted in the original book. This thankless task results in a strange uncanny valley between Seuss and Jones but does allow the artist a chance to colorize everything and lend some racial diversity to the Who population (Cindy-Lou is light-skinned). (This book was reviewed digitally.)
It’s not whether you win or lose; it’s how many mediocre sequels you can squeeze out of Seussian property. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Sept. 5, 2023
ISBN: 9780593563168
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: Aug. 15, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2023
Renata’s wren encounter proves magical, one most children could only wish to experience outside of this lovely story.
A home-renovation project is interrupted by a family of wrens, allowing a young girl an up-close glimpse of nature.
Renata and her father enjoy working on upgrading their bathroom, installing a clawfoot bathtub, and cutting a space for a new window. One warm night, after Papi leaves the window space open, two wrens begin making a nest in the bathroom. Rather than seeing it as an unfortunate delay of their project, Renata and Papi decide to let the avian carpenters continue their work. Renata witnesses the birth of four chicks as their rosy eggs split open “like coats that are suddenly too small.” Renata finds at a crucial moment that she can help the chicks learn to fly, even with the bittersweet knowledge that it will only hasten their exits from her life. Rosen uses lively language and well-chosen details to move the story of the baby birds forward. The text suggests the strong bond built by this Afro-Latinx father and daughter with their ongoing project without needing to point it out explicitly, a light touch in a picture book full of delicate, well-drawn moments and precise wording. Garoche’s drawings are impressively detailed, from the nest’s many small bits to the developing first feathers on the chicks and the wall smudges and exposed wiring of the renovation. (This book was reviewed digitally with 10-by-20-inch double-page spreads viewed at actual size.)
Renata’s wren encounter proves magical, one most children could only wish to experience outside of this lovely story. (Picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: March 16, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-593-12320-1
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Schwartz & Wade/Random
Review Posted Online: Jan. 12, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2021
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