Low (apparently) of budget and bland (certainly) of content, this digital tale follows a child on an imaginary voyage to an island where she and her companions dig up a treasure chest, take a few glittery souvenirs and sail home to bed. Her pals include a trio of animals with piratical disabilities: a dolphin with an eye patch, a turtle with a peg, er, flipper and an octopus with a hook on one of its tentacles. The art is utterly free of animation beyond occasional sparkles and features flat cartoon views of the fixedly smiling Penelope (and her animal shipmates) in static poses. The optional voice track, read by a child, is as wooden as the writing—which runs to lines like, “‘Let’s just take a few goodies,’ says Penelope ‘and leave the rest for the next adventurous pirate.’” The sparse assortment of less-than-exciting touch-activated sound effects range from sand being shoveled or a tiny splash to a very brief dolphin chirp and a cheery “Ahoy!” It's glitchy, too: When the word-highlighting feature is turned off, some of the text disappears even though it's still read aloud. Supplementary material includes review questions, activities and facts about octopi, sea turtles and dolphins. After even casual exposure to the plethora of better-designed, more feature-rich apps currently available, children will likely greet this effort with a (to quote Penelope) “Yaaawwn.” (iPad storybook app. 5-7)
Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: PicPocket Books
Review Posted Online: March 4, 2011
Hee haw.
The print version of a knee-slapping cumulative ditty.
In the song, Smith meets a donkey on the road. It is three-legged, and so a “wonky donkey” that, on further examination, has but one eye and so is a “winky wonky donkey” with a taste for country music and therefore a “honky-tonky winky wonky donkey,” and so on to a final characterization as a “spunky hanky-panky cranky stinky-dinky lanky honky-tonky winky wonky donkey.” A free musical recording (of this version, anyway—the author’s website hints at an adults-only version of the song) is available from the publisher and elsewhere online. Even though the book has no included soundtrack, the sly, high-spirited, eye patch–sporting donkey that grins, winks, farts, and clumps its way through the song on a prosthetic metal hoof in Cowley’s informal watercolors supplies comical visual flourishes for the silly wordplay. Look for ready guffaws from young audiences, whether read or sung, though those attuned to disability stereotypes may find themselves wincing instead or as well.
Hee haw. (Picture book. 5-7)Pub Date: May 1, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-545-26124-1
Page Count: 26
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Dec. 28, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Wins for compassion and for the refusal to let physical limitations hold one back.
With such short arms, how can Tiny T. Rex give a sad friend a hug?
Fleck goes for cute in the simple, minimally detailed illustrations, drawing the diminutive theropod with a chubby turquoise body and little nubs for limbs under a massive, squared-off head. Impelled by the sight of stegosaurian buddy Pointy looking glum, little Tiny sets out to attempt the seemingly impossible, a comforting hug. Having made the rounds seeking advice—the dino’s pea-green dad recommends math; purple, New Age aunt offers cucumber juice (“That is disgusting”); red mom tells him that it’s OK not to be able to hug (“You are tiny, but your heart is big!”), and blue and yellow older sibs suggest practice—Tiny takes up the last as the most immediately useful notion. Unfortunately, the “tree” the little reptile tries to hug turns out to be a pterodactyl’s leg. “Now I am falling,” Tiny notes in the consistently self-referential narrative. “I should not have let go.” Fortunately, Tiny lands on Pointy’s head, and the proclamation that though Rexes’ hugs may be tiny, “I will do my very best because you are my very best friend” proves just the mood-lightening ticket. “Thank you, Tiny. That was the biggest hug ever.” Young audiences always find the “clueless grown-ups” trope a knee-slapper, the overall tone never turns preachy, and Tiny’s instinctive kindness definitely puts him at (gentle) odds with the dinky dino star of Bob Shea’s Dinosaur Vs. series.
Wins for compassion and for the refusal to let physical limitations hold one back. (Picture book. 5-7)Pub Date: March 5, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-4521-7033-6
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Review Posted Online: Nov. 11, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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