A “hands-on” tale with an appealing protagonist whose road to triumph is a realistically rocky one.
Repeated failures set up a young artist/tinkerer for success in a tale driven by its agenda but laden with extras.
Restless, inattentive and probably a sufferer of ADHD or of a spectrum disorder, Axel continually annoys his third-grade classmates and teacher. A typical mishap sends him and the other students sprawling over their carefully constructed art projects. Recollection of his lengthy struggles at home to create a kinetic sculpture à la Alexander Calder inspires him to recast the broken materials and paint-spattered room into one big collective artwork that wows everyone. The figures in Armiño’s cartoon scenes move and gesture clumsily, but there’s some compensation in the interactions. The wide range of touch-, tilt- and shake-activated animations is capped by a camera at the end that lets viewers take selfies. Furthermore, the multivoiced audio track can be switched on or off, a thumbnail strip allows easy navigation, and tapping the visible lines magnifies the scrolling lines of text. Moreover, both the story and three appended projects feature video clips showing kinetic art in action, the author profiles Calder and two other artists in a side feature, and an icon promises a game in a future update.
A “hands-on” tale with an appealing protagonist whose road to triumph is a realistically rocky one. (glossary) (iPad storybook app. 6-10)Pub Date: Sept. 30, 2013
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: Laura Allison Pomenta Badolato
Review Posted Online: Nov. 12, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2013
This outing lacks the sophistication of such category standards as Clementine; here’s hoping English amps things up for...
A gentle voice and familiar pitfalls characterize this tale of a boy navigating the risky road to responsibility.
Gavin is new to his neighborhood and Carver Elementary. He likes his new friend, Richard, and has a typically contentious relationship with his older sister, Danielle. When Gavin’s desire to impress Richard sets off a disastrous chain of events, the boy struggles to evade responsibility for his actions. “After all, it isn’t his fault that Danielle’s snow globe got broken. Sure, he shouldn’t have been in her room—but then, she shouldn’t be keeping candy in her room to tempt him. Anybody would be tempted. Anybody!” opines Gavin once he learns the punishment for his crime. While Gavin has a charming Everyboy quality, and his aversion to Aunt Myrtle’s yapping little dog rings true, little about Gavin distinguishes him from other trouble-prone protagonists. He is, regrettably, forgettable. Coretta Scott King Honor winner English (Francie, 1999) is a teacher whose storytelling usually benefits from her day job. Unfortunately, the pizzazz of classroom chaos is largely absent from this series opener.
This outing lacks the sophistication of such category standards as Clementine; here’s hoping English amps things up for subsequent volumes. (Fiction. 6-9)Pub Date: Dec. 17, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-547-97044-8
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: Oct. 1, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2013
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
More trampling in the vineyards of the Literary Classics section, with results that will tickle fancies high and low.
Recasting Dog Man and his feline ward, Li’l Petey, as costumed superheroes, Pilkey looks East of Eden in this follow-up to Tale of Two Kitties (2017).
The Steinbeck novel’s Cain/Abel motif gets some play here, as Petey, “world’s evilest cat” and cloned Li’l Petey’s original, tries assiduously to tempt his angelic counterpart over to the dark side only to be met, ultimately at least, by Li’l Petey’s “Thou mayest.” (There are also occasional direct quotes from the novel.) But inner struggles between good and evil assume distinctly subordinate roles to riotous outer ones, as Petey repurposes robots built for a movie about the exploits of Dog Man—“the thinking man’s Rin Tin Tin”—while leading a general rush to the studio’s costume department for appropriate good guy/bad guy outfits in preparation for the climactic battle. During said battle and along the way Pilkey tucks in multiple Flip-O-Rama inserts as well as general gags. He lists no fewer than nine ways to ask “who cut the cheese?” and includes both punny chapter titles (“The Bark Knight Rises”) and nods to Hamiltonand Mary Poppins. The cartoon art, neatly and brightly colored by Garibaldi, is both as easy to read as the snappy dialogue and properly endowed with outsized sound effects, figures displaying a range of skin colors, and glimpses of underwear (even on robots).
More trampling in the vineyards of the Literary Classics section, with results that will tickle fancies high and low. (drawing instructions) (Graphic fantasy. 7-10)Pub Date: Dec. 26, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-545-93518-0
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Graphix/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: May 13, 2018
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