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THE GLOW

Name: THE GLOW
Author: Jennifer Bucheit

by Jennifer Bucheit & illustrated by Jarrod Becker & developed by Willow Frog ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 4, 2012

Skip. (iPad storybook app. 6-8)

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A firefly finally gets the hang of glowing by thinking of “his favorite thing to do in the world”—flying.

Steering well clear of biological accuracy (fireflies flash to attract mates), Bucheit introduces Nigel Duncan Gordon—depicted as a popeyed insect with a bright red head—who just can’t get the glow going. Finally, a wise old frog’s instruction to “think of the one thing that makes you happiest of all” leads him to figuratively and literally see the light. Both story and prose are amateurish (illogically, having learned to “believe in himself,” Nigel “join[s] the stars, the luminescent luminaries of the sky”). Becker renders flora and fauna with reasonable precision in the watercolor wetland scenes, but the text is printed in a cramped sans serif on crudely whited-out strips. The digital design is equally primitive, as taps will induce a few jerky movements or set glowing dots adrift, but there is no page index, nor any language available other than English despite claims to the contrary in the App Store ad copy. Furthermore, selecting the “Read” rather than “Listen” option at the beginning cuts off not only the bland audio narration, but the background music too. Interactive features notwithstanding, this doesn’t hold a candle to Eric Drachman and James Muscarello’s identically themed Leo the Lightning Bug (2001) or Eric Carle’s at least moderately franker The Very Lonely Firefly (1995).

Skip. (iPad storybook app. 6-8)

Pub Date: Nov. 4, 2012

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Willow Frog

Review Posted Online: Dec. 2, 2012

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2012

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HENRY AND MUDGE AND THE STARRY NIGHT

From the Henry and Mudge series

by Cynthia Rylant & illustrated by Sucie Stevenson ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 1, 1998

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Rylant (Henry and Mudge and the Sneaky Crackers, 1998, etc.) slips into a sentimental mode for this latest outing of the boy and his dog, as she sends Mudge and Henry and his parents off on a camping trip. Each character is attended to, each personality sketched in a few brief words: Henry's mother is the camping veteran with outdoor savvy; Henry's father doesn't know a tent stake from a marshmallow fork, but he's got a guitar for campfire entertainment; and the principals are their usual ready-for-fun selves. There are sappy moments, e.g., after an evening of star- gazing, Rylant sends the family off to bed with: ``Everyone slept safe and sound and there were no bears, no scares. Just the clean smell of trees . . . and wonderful green dreams.'' With its nice tempo, the story is as toasty as its campfire and swaddled in Stevenson's trusty artwork. (Fiction. 6-8)

Pub Date: April 1, 1998

ISBN: 0-689-81175-6

Page Count: 48

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1998

Categories:

CHILDREN'S ANIMALS

- BOOK REVIEW
A BOOK OF LOVES
by Cynthia Rylant ; illustrated by Cynthia Rylant

- BOOK REVIEW
HORNBEAM BY AND LARGE
by Cynthia Rylant ; illustrated by Arthur Howard

- BOOK REVIEW
HORNBEAM GETS IT DONE
by Cynthia Rylant ; illustrated by Arthur Howard

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BIG CHICKENS

by Leslie Helakoski & illustrated by Henry Cole ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 1, 2006

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With wordplay reminiscent of Margie Palatini at her best, Helakoski takes four timorous chickens into, then out of, the literal and figurative woods. Fleeing the henhouse after catching sight of a wolf, the pusillanimous pullets come to a deep ditch: “ ‘What if we can’t jump that far?’ ‘What if we fall in the ditch?’ ‘What if we get sucked into the mud?’ The chickens tutted, putted, and flutted. They butted into themselves and each other, until one by one . . . ” they do fall in. But then they pick themselves up and struggle out. Ensuing encounters with cows and a lake furnish similar responses and outcomes; ultimately they tumble into the wolf’s very cave, where they “picked, pecked, and pocked. They ruffled, puffled, and shuffled. They shrieked, squeaked, and freaked, until . . . ” their nemesis scampers away in panic. Fluttering about in pop-eyed terror, the portly, partly clothed hens make comical figures in Cole’s sunny cartoons (as does the flummoxed wolf)—but the genuine triumph in their final strut—“ ‘I am a big, brave chicken,’ said one chicken. ‘Ohh . . . ’ said the others. ‘Me too.’ ‘Me three.’ ‘Me four’ ”—brings this tribute to chicken power to a rousing close. (Picture book. 6-8)