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THE PIRATE KOOSTOE

Name: THE PIRATE KOOSTOE
Author: Michael Scotto

by Michael Scotto & illustrated by The Ink Circle & developed by Midlandia Press ‧ RELEASE DATE: Dec. 20, 2011

A bit livelier than the simultaneously published print edition, but the digital enhancements are anemic at best.

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A young would-be pirate learns that kindness and other intangibles are the real “treasures” in this lesson-driven episode.

The story is set around an island dubbed “Midlandia” and populated by candy-colored residents displaying odd combinations of animal and human features. It introduces a bright blue doglike character named Koostoe O. Bobo whose ambition to be a pirate founders on his discovery that stealing things is less satisfying than finding them and giving them away to friends. The slightly hazy, saturated color cartoon scenes pan, zoom and dissolve as bland music plays in the background. Meanwhile, successive lines of narrative text and dialogue scroll in and out of view along the bottom of each screen. There are no animated figures, and the skimpy assortment of touch-activated effects (marked by sprays of stars but nonfunctional until all of the text has appeared) is limited to rare starbursts and identifications of haphazardly selected items like a “hat” or “sail.” Along with a tutorial most users will likely find superfluous, the “help” features include a strip index and options for silent reading or audio narration either with or without automatic advance. Several discussion questions about jobs and personal interests follow the story.

A bit livelier than the simultaneously published print edition, but the digital enhancements are anemic at best. (iPad storybook app. 6-8)

Pub Date: Dec. 20, 2011

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Midlandia Press

Review Posted Online: Feb. 13, 2012

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2012

- BOOK REVIEW
BE A BUDDY, NOT A BULLY
by Michael Scotto & illustrated by The Ink Circle & developed by Midlandia Press

- BOOK REVIEW
POSTCARDS FROM PISMO
by Michael Scotto & illustrated by Dion Williams

- BOOK REVIEW
LATASHA AND THE LITTLE RED TORNADO
by Michael Scotto & illustrated by Evette Gabriel

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DIARY OF A SPIDER

by Doreen Cronin & illustrated by Harry Bliss ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 1, 2005

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The wriggly narrator of Diary of a Worm (2003) puts in occasional appearances, but it’s his arachnid buddy who takes center stage here, with terse, tongue-in-cheek comments on his likes (his close friend Fly, Charlotte’s Web), his dislikes (vacuums, people with big feet), nervous encounters with a huge Daddy Longlegs, his extended family—which includes a Grandpa more than willing to share hard-won wisdom (The secret to a long, happy life: “Never fall asleep in a shoe.”)—and mishaps both at spider school and on the human playground. Bliss endows his garden-dwellers with faces and the odd hat or other accessory, and creates cozy webs or burrows colorfully decorated with corks, scraps, plastic toys and other human detritus. Spider closes with the notion that we could all get along, “just like me and Fly,” if we but got to know one another. Once again, brilliantly hilarious. (Picture book. 6-8)

Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2005

ISBN: 0-06-000153-4

Page Count: 40

Publisher: Joanna Cotler/HarperCollins

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2005

Categories:

CHILDREN'S ANIMALS

- BOOK REVIEW
LAWRENCE & SOPHIA
by Doreen Cronin ; illustrated by Brian Cronin

- BOOK REVIEW
MAMA IN THE MOON
by Doreen Cronin ; illustrated by Brian Cronin

- BOOK REVIEW
LAWRENCE & SOPHIA
by Doreen Cronin ; illustrated by Brian Cronin

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HENRY AND MUDGE AND THE STARRY NIGHT

From the Henry and Mudge series

by Cynthia Rylant & illustrated by Sucie Stevenson ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 1, 1998

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Rylant (Henry and Mudge and the Sneaky Crackers, 1998, etc.) slips into a sentimental mode for this latest outing of the boy and his dog, as she sends Mudge and Henry and his parents off on a camping trip. Each character is attended to, each personality sketched in a few brief words: Henry's mother is the camping veteran with outdoor savvy; Henry's father doesn't know a tent stake from a marshmallow fork, but he's got a guitar for campfire entertainment; and the principals are their usual ready-for-fun selves. There are sappy moments, e.g., after an evening of star- gazing, Rylant sends the family off to bed with: ``Everyone slept safe and sound and there were no bears, no scares. Just the clean smell of trees . . . and wonderful green dreams.'' With its nice tempo, the story is as toasty as its campfire and swaddled in Stevenson's trusty artwork. (Fiction. 6-8)