Skip. (iPad storybook app. 6-8)
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
The wriggly narrator of Diary of a Worm (2003) puts in occasional appearances, but it’s his arachnid buddy who takes center stage here, with terse, tongue-in-cheek comments on his likes (his close friend Fly, Charlotte’s Web), his dislikes (vacuums, people with big feet), nervous encounters with a huge Daddy Longlegs, his extended family—which includes a Grandpa more than willing to share hard-won wisdom (The secret to a long, happy life: “Never fall asleep in a shoe.”)—and mishaps both at spider school and on the human playground. Bliss endows his garden-dwellers with faces and the odd hat or other accessory, and creates cozy webs or burrows colorfully decorated with corks, scraps, plastic toys and other human detritus. Spider closes with the notion that we could all get along, “just like me and Fly,” if we but got to know one another. Once again, brilliantly hilarious. (Picture book. 6-8)
Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2005
ISBN: 0-06-000153-4
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Joanna Cotler/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2005
A fair choice, but it may need some support to really blast off.
This rocket hopes to take its readers on a birthday blast—but there may or may not be enough fuel.
Once a year, a one-seat rocket shoots out from Earth. Why? To reveal a special congratulatory banner for a once-a-year event. The second-person narration puts readers in the pilot’s seat and, through a (mostly) ballad-stanza rhyme scheme (abcb), sends them on a journey toward the sun, past meteors, and into the Kuiper belt. The final pages include additional information on how birthdays are measured against the Earth’s rotations around the sun. Collingridge aims for the stars with this title, and he mostly succeeds. The rhyme scheme flows smoothly, which will make listeners happy, but the illustrations (possibly a combination of paint with digital enhancements) may leave the viewers feeling a little cold. The pilot is seen only with a 1960s-style fishbowl helmet that completely obscures the face, gender, and race by reflecting the interior of the rocket ship. This may allow readers/listeners to picture themselves in the role, but it also may divest them of any emotional connection to the story. The last pages—the backside of a triple-gatefold spread—label the planets and include Pluto. While Pluto is correctly labeled as a dwarf planet, it’s an unusual choice to include it but not the other dwarfs: Ceres, Eris, etc. The illustration also neglects to include the asteroid belt or any of the solar system’s moons.
A fair choice, but it may need some support to really blast off. (Picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: July 31, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-338-18949-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: David Fickling/Phoenix/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: April 15, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2018
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