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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

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BOOKMARKS ARE PEOPLE TOO!

From the Here's Hank series , Vol. 1

by Henry Winkler ; Lin Oliver ; illustrated by Scott Garrett ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 14, 2014

An uncomplicated opener, with some funny bits and a clear but not heavy agenda.

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Hank Zipzer, poster boy for dyslexic middle graders everywhere, stars in a new prequel series highlighting second-grade trials and triumphs.

Hank’s hopes of playing Aqua Fly, a comic-book character, in the upcoming class play founder when, despite plenty of coaching and preparation, he freezes up during tryouts. He is not particularly comforted when his sympathetic teacher adds a nonspeaking role as a bookmark to the play just for him. Following the pattern laid down in his previous appearances as an older child, he gets plenty of help and support from understanding friends (including Ashley Wong, a new apartment-house neighbor). He even manages to turn lemons into lemonade with a quick bit of improv when Nick “the Tick” McKelty, the sneering classmate who took his preferred role, blanks on his lines during the performance. As the aforementioned bully not only chokes in the clutch and gets a demeaning nickname, but is fat, boastful and eats like a pig, the authors’ sensitivity is rather one-sided. Still, Hank has a winning way of bouncing back from adversity, and like the frequent black-and-white line-and-wash drawings, the typeface is designed with easy legibility in mind.

An uncomplicated opener, with some funny bits and a clear but not heavy agenda. (Fiction. 7-9)

Pub Date: Feb. 14, 2014

ISBN: 978-0-448-48239-2

Page Count: 128

Publisher: Grosset & Dunlap

Review Posted Online: Dec. 10, 2013

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2014

Categories:

CHILDREN'S GENERAL CHILDREN'S

- BOOK REVIEW
THE CASE OF THE STRANGE SPLASH
by Henry Winkler & Lin Oliver ; illustrated by Dan Santat

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HOLLYWOOD VS. THE GALAXY
by Henry Winkler & Lin Oliver ; illustrated by Ethan Nicolle

- BOOK REVIEW
LIGHTS, CAMERA, DANGER!
by Henry Winkler & Lin Oliver

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THE ULTIMATE BOOK OF CITIES

by Anne-Sophie Baumann ; illustrated by Didier Balicevic ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 4, 2017

There’s lots to see and do in this big city.

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A set of panoramic views of the urban environment: inside and out, above and belowground, at street level and high overhead.

Thanks to many flaps, pull tabs, spinners, and sliders, viewers can take peeks into stores and apartments, see foliage change through the seasons in a park, operate elevators, make buildings rise and come down, visit museums and municipal offices, take in a film, join a children’s parade, marvel as Christmas decorations go up—even look in on a wedding and a funeral. Balicevic populates each elevated cartoon view with dozens of tiny but individualized residents diverse in age, skin tone, hair color and style, dress, and occupation. He also adds such contemporary touches as an electrical charging station for cars, surveillance cameras, smartphones, and fiber optic cables. Moreover, many flaps conceal diagrammatic views of infrastructure elements like water treatment facilities and sources of electrical power or how products ranging from plate glass and paper to bread, cheese, and T-shirts are manufactured (realistically, none of the workers in the last are white). Baumann’s commentary is largely dispensable, but she does worthily observe on the big final pop-up spread that cities are always changing—often, nowadays, becoming more environmentally friendly.

There’s lots to see and do in this big city. (Informational novelty. 6-9)