Worthy of mission, somewhat ragged of execution.
Assembled as an introduction to physical diversity, cartoon images of 26 children in name order sport a broad range of dress, skin tones, facial features, foods, disabilities and playthings.
From “A is for Alyssa” to “Z is for Zaahid,” the smiling children—drawn one per screen in similar styles by an international cast of illustrators—sit or stand on plain white backgrounds next to captions printed in large hand-drawn script. A narrator enunciates each patterned line. There is no animation, but tapping four selected items in each picture (three for X, Y and Z) results in more printed and spoken words: “Gareth,” for instance, wears “Glasses” and holds on to a “Guide Dog” and a “Gift” near a bowl of “Grapes.” As these children are clad, mostly, in western European dress and associated with no ethnic or national markers more specific than their names, readers are left free to think about or discuss them in either local or globe-spanning contexts. Still, the app is plagued both by design issues, such as the lack of any way to go forward or back more than one letter at a time, an audio track that cannot be switched off and the relegation of associated enrichment activities to the app's website. Some readers might also question word choices like “Queen Crown” in “Q” and, in “X,” “X-Mas,” which is nonetheless pronounced as “Christmas.”
Worthy of mission, somewhat ragged of execution. (linked website for parents/caregivers; requires iOS 6 and above) (iPad alphabet app. 6-10)Pub Date: Oct. 9, 2013
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: SCA AB
Review Posted Online: Nov. 19, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2013
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
Gooney Bird Greene (with a silent E) is not your average second grader. She arrives in Mrs. Pidgeon’s class announcing: “I’m your new student and I just moved here from China. I want a desk right smack in the middle of the room, because I like to be right smack in the middle of everything.” Everything about her is unusual and mysterious—her clothes, hairstyles, even her lunches. Since the second graders have never met anyone like Gooney Bird, they want to hear more about her. Mrs. Pidgeon has been talking to the class about what makes a good story, so it stands to reason that Gooney will get her chance. She tells a series of stories that explain her name, how she came from China on a flying carpet, how she got diamond earrings at the prince’s palace, and why she was late for school (because she was directing a symphony orchestra). And her stories are “absolutely true.” Actually, they are explainable and mesh precisely with the teacher’s lesson, more important, they are a clever device that exemplify the elements of good storytelling and writing and also demonstrate how everyone can turn everyday events into stories. Savvy teachers should take note and add this to their shelf of “how a story is made” titles. Gooney Bird’s stories are printed in larger type than the narrative and the black-and-white drawings add the right touch of sauciness (only the cover is in color). A hybrid of Harriet, Blossom, and Anastasia, irrepressible Gooney Bird is that rare bird in children’s fiction: one that instantly becomes an amusing and popular favorite. (Fiction. 6-9)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2002
ISBN: 0-618-23848-4
Page Count: 96
Publisher: Walter Lorraine/Houghton Mifflin
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2002
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