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BATMAN FLASHLIGHT PROJECTIONS

Name: BATMAN FLASHLIGHT PROJECTIONS
Author: Jake Black
ISBN: 978-1-68383-444-1

by Jake Black ; illustrated by Jake Black ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 25, 2018

Insubstantial but properly atmospheric.

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Projected images of the Dark Knight, his friends, foes, and gear.

Printed in black on clear acetate sheets, six projections are drawn in a style reminiscent of the original comics but simpler. They include: a group portrait of the costumed hero among such allies as Robin (the current one, identified as his son) and Alfred; a rogues’ gallery of adversaries; and views of the Bat Signal, the Batmobile, and the Caped Crusader leaping solo to the attack. The card stock leaves are spiral bound so that each appropriately gloomy scene can be held open in one hand while the other uses a small light source (a wide-angled one works best) to project the images on a ceiling or, for more sharply focused results, a nearby wall. Black supplies patronizing instructions for use (“If it’s too dark to read, you can alternate between shining the light through the projection window and onto the words”—duh), generalized background on Batman’s work and largely but not entirely white world (Batwing is black in the comics if not obviously so here), and, at the end, an invitation to draw an action scene using a dry-erase marker on a final, blank, plastic sheet. There’s no storyline, but the gimmick makes this a natural accompaniment for the more-coherent likes of Ralph Cosentino’s Batman (2008) or Kelly Puckett and Jon J Muth’s Batman’s Dark Secret (2015).

Insubstantial but properly atmospheric. (Novelty. 6-9)

Pub Date: Sept. 25, 2018

ISBN: 978-1-68383-444-1

Page Count: 16

Publisher: Insight Kids

Review Posted Online: Sept. 16, 2018

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2018

Categories:

CHILDREN'S GENERAL CHILDREN'S

HORTON AND THE KWUGGERBUG AND MORE LOST STORIES

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HORTON AND THE KWUGGERBUG AND MORE LOST STORIES

by Dr. Seuss ; illustrated by Dr. Seuss ; introduction by Charles D. Cohen ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 9, 2014

Fans both young and formerly young will be pleased—100 percent.

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Published in magazines, never seen since / Now resurrected for pleasure intense / Versified episodes numbering four / Featuring Marco, and Horton and more!

All of the entries in this follow-up to The Bippolo Seed and Other Lost Stories (2011) involve a certain amount of sharp dealing. Horton carries a Kwuggerbug through crocodile-infested waters and up a steep mountain because “a deal is a deal”—and then is cheated out of his promised share of delicious Beezlenuts. Officer Pat heads off escalating, imagined disasters on Mulberry Street by clubbing a pesky gnat. Marco (originally met on that same Mulberry Street) concocts a baroque excuse for being late to school. In the closer, a smooth-talking Grinch (not the green sort) sells a gullible Hoobub a piece of string. In a lively introduction, uber-fan Charles D. Cohen (The Seuss, The Whole Seuss, and Nothing but the Seuss, 2002) provides publishing histories, places characters and settings in Seussian context, and offers insights into, for instance, the origin of “Grinch.” Along with predictably engaging wordplay—“He climbed. He grew dizzy. His ankles grew numb. / But he climbed and he climbed and he clum and he clum”—each tale features bright, crisply reproduced renditions of its original illustrations. Except for “The Hoobub and the Grinch,” which has been jammed into a single spread, the verses and pictures are laid out in spacious, visually appealing ways.

Fans both young and formerly young will be pleased—100 percent. (Picture book. 6-9)

Pub Date: Sept. 9, 2014

ISBN: 978-0-385-38298-4

Page Count: 56

Publisher: Random House

Review Posted Online: June 3, 2014

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2014

Categories:

CHILDREN'S GENERAL CHILDREN'S

- BOOK REVIEW
DR. SEUSS'S EVERY VOICE COUNTS!
illustrated by Dr. Seuss

- BOOK REVIEW
DR. SEUSS'S HORSE MUSEUM
by Dr. Seuss ; illustrated by Andrew Joyner

- BOOK REVIEW
WHAT PET SHOULD I GET?
by Dr. Seuss ; illustrated by Dr. Seuss

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IF I BUILT A SCHOOL

by Chris Van Dusen ; illustrated by Chris Van Dusen ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 13, 2019

An all-day sugar rush, putting the “fun” back into, er, education.

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A young visionary describes his ideal school: “Perfectly planned and impeccably clean. / On a scale, 1 to 10, it’s more like 15!”

In keeping with the self-indulgently fanciful lines of If I Built a Car (2005) and If I Built a House (2012), young Jack outlines in Seussian rhyme a shiny, bright, futuristic facility in which students are swept to open-roofed classes in clear tubes, there are no tests but lots of field trips, and art, music, and science are afterthoughts next to the huge and awesome gym, playground, and lunchroom. A robot and lots of cute puppies (including one in a wheeled cart) greet students at the door, robotically made-to-order lunches range from “PB & jelly to squid, lightly seared,” and the library’s books are all animated popups rather than the “everyday regular” sorts. There are no guards to be seen in the spacious hallways—hardly any adults at all, come to that—and the sparse coed student body features light- and dark-skinned figures in roughly equal numbers, a few with Asian features, and one in a wheelchair. Aside from the lack of restrooms, it seems an idyllic environment—at least for dog-loving children who prefer sports and play over quieter pursuits.

An all-day sugar rush, putting the “fun” back into, er, education. (Picture book. 6-8)