Although the individual elements of this app work well, the story bangs children over the head with its message: Behave or...
If only life were as simple as this.
Lucy Grace throws tantrums left and right, breaking her toys, drawing on the walls and shredding her books. “Her mom and dad, though quite displeased, never punished Lucy Grace. / They argued that they couldn’t stand to see her crying face.” So it is no surprise that Lucy Grace turns into a monster, a spoiled brat with green teeth and wild hair. With unsatisfying simplicity, Lucy Grace’s parents turn the situation around by simply showing her how to make her bed. They do not “let her whine or pout,” and voilà: “She changed the way she acted!” Really? This story lacks the humor of Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle, but it also lacks the understanding that good relationships take hard work on all sides. Digital artwork adds humor, and simple interactive elements engage young readers without distracting them. The tenor of the narration is pleasing, but the sound effects occasionally overlap and overshadow the narration. The rhythm and rhyme are generally pleasing, and young readers will appreciate the pacing of the text and narration.
Although the individual elements of this app work well, the story bangs children over the head with its message: Behave or else you’ll turn into a spoiled brat . (iPad storybook app. 4-7)Pub Date: Feb. 18, 2014
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: Kayu Interactive
Review Posted Online: June 3, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2014
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Give this child’s-eye view of a day at the beach with an attentive father high marks for coziness: “When your ball blows across the sand and into the ocean and starts to drift away, your daddy could say, Didn’t I tell you not to play too close to the waves? But he doesn’t. He wades out into the cold water. And he brings your ball back to the beach and plays roll and catch with you.” Alley depicts a moppet and her relaxed-looking dad (to all appearances a single parent) in informally drawn beach and domestic settings: playing together, snuggling up on the sofa and finally hugging each other goodnight. The third-person voice is a bit distancing, but it makes the togetherness less treacly, and Dad’s mix of love and competence is less insulting, to parents and children both, than Douglas Wood’s What Dads Can’t Do (2000), illus by Doug Cushman. (Picture book. 5-7)
Pub Date: May 23, 2005
ISBN: 0-618-00361-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2005
Quirky, familiar fun for series devotees.
After Duncan finds his crayons gone—yet again—letters arrive, detailing their adventures in friendship.
Eleven crayons send missives from their chosen spots throughout Duncan’s home (and one from his classroom). Red enjoys the thrill of extinguishing “pretend fires” with Duncan’s toy firetruck. White, so often dismissed as invisible, finds a new calling subbing in for the missing queen on the black-and-white chessboard. “Now everyone ALWAYS SEES ME!…(Well, half the time!)” Pink’s living the dream as a pastry chef helming the Breezy Bake Oven, “baking everything from little cupcakes…to…OTHER little cupcakes!” Teal, who’s hitched a ride to school in Duncan’s backpack, meets the crayons in the boy’s desk and writes, “Guess what? I HAVE A TWIN! How come you never told me?” Duncan wants to see his crayons and “meet their new friends.” A culminating dinner party assembles the crayons and their many guests: a table tennis ball, dog biscuits, a well-loved teddy bear, and more. The premise—personified crayons, away and back again—is well-trammeled territory by now, after over a dozen books and spinoffs, and Jeffers once more delivers his signature cartooning and hand-lettering. Though the pages lack the laugh-out-loud sight gags and side-splittingly funny asides of previous outings, readers—especially fans of the crayons’ previous outings—will enjoy checking in on their pals.
Quirky, familiar fun for series devotees. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: June 3, 2025
ISBN: 9780593622360
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Philomel
Review Posted Online: March 8, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2025
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BOOK REVIEW
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