The unpretentious illustrations, the silliness of the story and cute voices of the young narrators may appeal to...
An amateurish digital picture book presents some homemade charm.
Frigglepants is "[b]ored as a banana. Bored as a BUMP," so he creates a spaceship made of pots and pans and duct tape. Mom isn't paying much attention to Frigglepants, because Baby is up to mischief, washing clothes in the toilet and cleaning the couch with bananas. When Frigglepants and Baby blast off into outer space, they have a brief encounter with some aliens and run low on fuel, but, of course, they make it back home in one piece. The ending is so abrupt that readers will be left wondering if there are virtual pages missing. There are hidden pictures to find, the pages feature some movement and many objects respond to touch with basic movement and sound effects. The only navigation is basic page-forward and page-backward. The writing is unpolished and childlike, which works well sometimes but is painfully awkward at others: "We did it Baby, give me five! WE ROCK!!! / Like a nice, fuzzy sock." There is not much to the plot, and the clipart-style illustrations are merely serviceable, but the whole experience is saved by the charming, sweet voices of the children's narration.
The unpretentious illustrations, the silliness of the story and cute voices of the young narrators may appeal to preschoolers. (iPad storybook app. 3-5)Pub Date: June 30, 2011
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: Homemade Preschool
Review Posted Online: Sept. 3, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2011
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Plotless and pointless, the book clearly exists only because its celebrity author wrote it.
A succession of animal dads do their best to teach their young to say “Dada” in this picture-book vehicle for Fallon.
A grumpy bull says, “DADA!”; his calf moos back. A sad-looking ram insists, “DADA!”; his lamb baas back. A duck, a bee, a dog, a rabbit, a cat, a mouse, a donkey, a pig, a frog, a rooster, and a horse all fail similarly, spread by spread. A final two-spread sequence finds all of the animals arrayed across the pages, dads on the verso and children on the recto. All the text prior to this point has been either iterations of “Dada” or animal sounds in dialogue bubbles; here, narrative text states, “Now everybody get in line, let’s say it together one more time….” Upon the turn of the page, the animal dads gaze round-eyed as their young across the gutter all cry, “DADA!” (except the duckling, who says, “quack”). Ordóñez's illustrations have a bland, digital look, compositions hardly varying with the characters, although the pastel-colored backgrounds change. The punch line fails from a design standpoint, as the sudden, single-bubble chorus of “DADA” appears to be emanating from background features rather than the baby animals’ mouths (only some of which, on close inspection, appear to be open). It also fails to be funny.
Plotless and pointless, the book clearly exists only because its celebrity author wrote it. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: June 9, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-250-00934-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Review Posted Online: April 14, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
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