If kids can learn how to properly navigate it, this simple app is likely to ignite a few musical fires.
A primer on musical instruments is well-organized in terms of taxonomy, but the jumpy, incongruous screen navigation often makes it tough to follow.
This admirable effort aims to educate kids about the names, sounds and different families of instruments. There are five major categories: electronic, keyboard, percussion, string and wind. The home screen allows readers to tap on a category, which in turn takes them to instruments in that classification. Each category has a home page; swiping upward or downward scrolls to individual instruments (one per screen) that can be tapped to produce audio clips. Instrument names can also be tapped for identification and pronunciation. Swiping right or left changes categories, but it doesn’t necessarily take readers to the home page of that family unless that’s where they left off, which could cause confusion for those who aren’t aware that they’ve switched categories. A sideways swipe from the charango (a stringed instrument) may take readers to the French horn, for instance. The audio is good, both musically and in terms of name pronunciation, and the inclusion of unusual instruments (alphorn, balafon and balalaika, to name a few) adds both educational and aesthetic value.
If kids can learn how to properly navigate it, this simple app is likely to ignite a few musical fires. (iPad informational app. 4-10)Pub Date: Sept. 14, 2012
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: Mighty Media
Review Posted Online: Dec. 25, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2013
Continuing to find inspiration in the work of Virginia Lee Burton, Munro Leaf and other illustrators of the past, Long (The Little Engine That Could, 2005) offers an aw-shucks friendship tale that features a small but hardworking tractor (“putt puff puttedy chuff”) with a Little Toot–style face and a big-eared young descendant of Ferdinand the bull who gets stuck in deep, gooey mud. After the big new yellow tractor, crowds of overalls-clad locals and a red fire engine all fail to pull her out, the little tractor (who had been left behind the barn to rust after the arrival of the new tractor) comes putt-puff-puttedy-chuff-ing down the hill to entice his terrified bovine buddy successfully back to dry ground. Short on internal logic but long on creamy scenes of calf and tractor either gamboling energetically with a gaggle of McCloskey-like geese through neutral-toned fields or resting peacefully in the shade of a gnarled tree (apple, not cork), the episode will certainly draw nostalgic adults. Considering the author’s track record and influences, it may find a welcome from younger audiences too. (Picture book. 5-8)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2009
ISBN: 978-0-399-25248-8
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Philomel
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2009
SEEN & HEARD
Not enough tricks to make this a treat.
Another holiday title (How To Catch the Easter Bunny by Adam Wallace, illustrated by Elkerton, 2017) sticks to the popular series’ formula.
Rhyming four-line verses describe seven intrepid trick-or-treaters’ efforts to capture the witch haunting their Halloween. Rhyming roadblocks with toolbox is an acceptable stretch, but too often too many words or syllables in the lines throw off the cadence. Children familiar with earlier titles will recognize the traps set by the costume-clad kids—a pulley and box snare, a “Tunnel of Tricks.” Eventually they accept her invitation to “floss, bump, and boogie,” concluding “the dance party had hit the finale at last, / each dancing monster started to cheer! / There’s no doubt about it, we have to admit: / This witch threw the party of the year!” The kids are diverse, and their costumes are fanciful rather than scary—a unicorn, a dragon, a scarecrow, a red-haired child in a lab coat and bow tie, a wizard, and two space creatures. The monsters, goblins, ghosts, and jack-o'-lanterns, backgrounded by a turquoise and purple night sky, are sufficiently eerie. Still, there isn’t enough originality here to entice any but the most ardent fans of Halloween or the series. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Not enough tricks to make this a treat. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Aug. 2, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-72821-035-3
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Sourcebooks Wonderland
Review Posted Online: May 10, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2022
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