Unremarkable and uneven—steer clear.
When a new baby arrives, Dudley misses special time spent fetching and playing ball with his family in this brief, predictable tale.
“Life [is] good for Dudley.” He takes long walks with his “parents,” plays ball in the park and sleeps in their bed. Everything changes when Baby arrives. Dudley misses playtime and walks, and his delicious homemade food has been replaced with kibble. Most of all, he’s confused why the new baby gets all the attention: “After all, she was loud and smelly!” With saccharine predictability, “Dudley learned that Baby was not just a house guest, but a new member of his family.” The characters are as plain as a vanilla wafer and never utter a word in direct dialogue (except for some jealous dogs in the park). The digital illustrations are inconsistent; Labradoodle Dudley is attractively drawn, but the human figures suffer from unnatural shading and coloring. Readers will be happier with a humorous approach like Emily Jenkins and Pierre Pratt’s That New Animal (2005) or catchy writing like Kathi Appelt and Kelly Murphy’s Brand-New Baby Blues (2010). It’s also not really clear who the audience is; most books that place pets in a new-baby scenario clearly aim to give children a nonthreatening character to relate to, but this app actually appears to be targeted to dogs.
Unremarkable and uneven—steer clear. (iPad storybook app. 3-6)Pub Date: Jan. 15, 2014
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: Luna Moth LLC
Review Posted Online: Feb. 18, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2014
A wandering effort, happy but pointless.
The perfect book for kids who love dragons and mild tacos.
Rubin’s story starts with an incantatory edge: “Hey, kid! Did you know that dragons love tacos? They love beef tacos and chicken tacos. They love really big gigantic tacos and tiny little baby tacos as well.” The playing field is set: dragons, tacos. As a pairing, they are fairly silly, and when the kicker comes in—that dragons hate spicy salsa, which ignites their inner fireworks—the silliness is sillier still. Second nature, after all, is for dragons to blow flames out their noses. So when the kid throws a taco party for the dragons, it seems a weak device that the clearly labeled “totally mild” salsa comes with spicy jalapenos in the fine print, prompting the dragons to burn down the house, resulting in a barn-raising at which more tacos are served. Harmless, but if there is a parable hidden in the dragon-taco tale, it is hidden in the unlit deep, and as a measure of lunacy, bridled or unbridled, it doesn’t make the leap into the outer reaches of imagination. Salmieri’s artwork is fitting, with a crabbed, ethereal line work reminiscent of Peter Sís, but the story does not offer it enough range.
A wandering effort, happy but pointless. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: June 14, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-8037-3680-1
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: March 27, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2012
A disappointing follow-up.
Inventor Izzy Gizmo is back in this sequel to her eponymous debut (2017).
While busily inventing one day, Izzy receives an invitation from the Genius Guild to their annual convention. Though Izzy’s “inventions…don’t always work,” Grandpa (apparently her sole caregiver) encourages her to go. The next day they undertake a long journey “over fields, hills, and waves” and “mile after mile” to isolated Technoff Isle. There, Izzy finds she must compete against four other kids to create the most impressive machine. The colorful, detail-rich illustrations chronicle how poor Izzy is thwarted at every turn by Abi von Lavish, a Veruca Salt–esque character who takes all the supplies for herself. But when Abi abandons her project, Izzy salvages the pieces and decides to take Grandpa’s advice to create a machine that “can really be put to good use.” A frustrated Izzy’s impatience with a friend almost foils her chance at the prize, but all’s well that ends well. There’s much to like: Brown-skinned inventor girl Izzy is an appealing character, it’s great to see a nurturing brown-skinned male caregiver, the idea of an “Invention Convention” is fun, and a sustainable-energy invention is laudable. However, these elements don’t make up for rhymes that often feel forced and a lackluster story.
A disappointing follow-up. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: March 1, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-68263-164-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Peachtree
Review Posted Online: Jan. 11, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2020
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