HIDING MONSTERS

Name: HIDING MONSTERS
Author: Mike Johnson

by Mike Johnson ; illustrated by Melanie McCall ; developed by Glowdot Productions ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 12, 2012

While it may make readers wonder just what's the point of having such utterly cuddly monsters, the app is still fun and...

bookshelf

Cuddly, agreeable versions of mythical monsters wait to be found in this breezy exploration book from the author, illustrator and developers behind Hiding Hannah (2011).

As in their previous app, the story employs a simple structure: Touch objects on screen to discover where someone is hiding; repeat in a different environment. In Hiding Hannah, a giggly toddler exasperated her parents by playing an ongoing game of hide-and-seek. In this app, the Loch Ness Monster, Bigfoot, a dragon, the Abominable Snowman and others can be found in their native lands—after a hunt. When they're discovered, surprisingly enough, they don't bloodily maul readers. Instead, they wave and say hello, as they've been systematically defanged for young readers. The hulking Yeti, for instance, has an awfully toothless nickname: Bommy. If the app lacks some of the spark of originality and easy humor of its predecessor, it makes up for it in the same kind of attention to detail and playful art that made the previous effort so successful. The backgrounds, including a Japanese city and the top of a gargoyle-guarded tower, are exotic but never scary or uninviting.

While it may make readers wonder just what's the point of having such utterly cuddly monsters, the app is still fun and snappily put together. (iPad storybook app. 3-7)

Pub Date: July 12, 2012

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Squeaky Frog

Review Posted Online: Aug. 19, 2012

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2012

- BOOK REVIEW
HIDING HANNAH
by Mike Johnson & illustrated by Melanie McCall & developed by Glowdot Productions

bookshelf

LOVE FROM THE VERY HUNGRY CATERPILLAR

by Eric Carle ; illustrated by Eric Carle ‧ RELEASE DATE: Dec. 15, 2015

Safe to creep on by.

bookshelf

Carle’s famous caterpillar expresses its love.

In three sentences that stretch out over most of the book’s 32 pages, the (here, at least) not-so-ravenous larva first describes the object of its love, then describes how that loved one makes it feel before concluding, “That’s why… / I[heart]U.” There is little original in either visual or textual content, much of it mined from The Very Hungry Caterpillar. “You are… / …so sweet,” proclaims the caterpillar as it crawls through the hole it’s munched in a strawberry; “…the cherry on my cake,” it says as it perches on the familiar square of chocolate cake; “…the apple of my eye,” it announces as it emerges from an apple. Images familiar from other works join the smiling sun that shone down on the caterpillar as it delivers assurances that “you make… / …the sun shine brighter / …the stars sparkle,” and so on. The book is small, only 7 inches high and 5 ¾ inches across when closed—probably not coincidentally about the size of a greeting card. While generations of children have grown up with the ravenous caterpillar, this collection of Carle imagery and platitudinous sentiment has little of his classic’s charm. The melding of Carle’s caterpillar with Robert Indiana’s iconic LOVE on the book’s cover, alas, draws further attention to its derivative nature.

Safe to creep on by. (Picture book. 3-6)

Pub Date: Dec. 15, 2015

ISBN: 978-0-448-48932-2

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Grosset & Dunlap

Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2021

Categories:

CHILDREN'S HOLIDAYS & CELEBRATIONS | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

- BOOK REVIEW
WHAT'S YOUR FAVORITE FOOD?
edited by Eric Carle

- BOOK REVIEW
WHAT'S YOUR FAVORITE BUG?
edited by Eric Carle

- BOOK REVIEW
MY FIRST I SEE YOU
by Eric Carle ; illustrated by Eric Carle

bookshelf

LOVE FROM THE CRAYONS

by Drew Daywalt ; illustrated by Oliver Jeffers ‧ RELEASE DATE: Dec. 24, 2019

As ephemeral as a valentine.

bookshelf

Daywalt and Jeffers’ wandering crayons explore love.

Each double-page spread offers readers a vision of one of the anthropomorphic crayons on the left along with the statement “Love is [color].” The word love is represented by a small heart in the appropriate color. Opposite, childlike crayon drawings explain how that color represents love. So, readers learn, “love is green. / Because love is helpful.” The accompanying crayon drawing depicts two alligators, one holding a recycling bin and the other tossing a plastic cup into it, offering readers two ways of understanding green. Some statements are thought-provoking: “Love is white. / Because sometimes love is hard to see,” reaches beyond the immediate image of a cat’s yellow eyes, pink nose, and black mouth and whiskers, its white face and body indistinguishable from the paper it’s drawn on, to prompt real questions. “Love is brown. / Because sometimes love stinks,” on the other hand, depicted by a brown bear standing next to a brown, squiggly turd, may provoke giggles but is fundamentally a cheap laugh. Some of the color assignments have a distinctly arbitrary feel: Why is purple associated with the imagination and pink with silliness? Fans of The Day the Crayons Quit (2013) hoping for more clever, metaliterary fun will be disappointed by this rather syrupy read.

As ephemeral as a valentine. (Picture book. 4-6)