The $6.99 price tag may cause a little sticker shock, but endearing characters, creative interaction and Willems’...
A puerile pigeon pesters and pleads to get what he wants.
Caldecott Honoree Willems makes a solid app debut with this Mad-Libs–style interactive story. Fans of his traditional Pigeon books will be delighted to see the pigeon and the bus driver come to life, as they are personable, quirky and highly entertaining. The story begins with the bus driver soliciting help to construct the narrative. In “egg” mode, interchangeable nouns are randomized and the story is fully automated. In “chick” mode, the bus driver offers multiple-choice options that rotate with every launch. In “pigeon” mode, readers can record their own responses, which in turn will be added to the narrative. After appropriate selections have been made, the pigeon appears. Once “shaken” he asks permission to do something—run this app, wear purple underwear, borrow your cell phone, etc.—and each time, a chorus of children shouts “NO!” Not to be deterred, the pigeon begs, offers bribes and finally throws a hissy fit—all to no avail. Navigation is breezy, interaction and audio are spot-on and Willems even offers a step-by-step drawing lesson. Up to six “favorite” recorded versions can be saved for repeat reading.
The $6.99 price tag may cause a little sticker shock, but endearing characters, creative interaction and Willems’ idiosyncratic storytelling make this app worth the splurge. (iPad storybook app. 2-5)Pub Date: Oct. 27, 2011
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: Disney Publishing Worldwide Applications
Review Posted Online: Dec. 13, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2012
If Black Lives Matter, they deserve more specificity than this.
A lushly illustrated picture book with a troubling message.
Little Lala walks with her father after his successful day of fishing. When Mama calls her home for bed, a host of “good night”s delays her: to the bird, the monkey, and even the rock. As Lala wanders through her village in the darkening twilight, readers appreciate its expansive beauty and Lala’s simple joys. Although it’s been artfully written and richly illustrated by an award-winning author of many multicultural stories, this book has problems that overshadow its beauty. “African veld” sets the story in southern Africa, but its vague locale encourages Americans to think that distinctions among African countries don’t matter. Lala wears braids or locks that stick straight up, recalling the 19th-century pickaninny, and her inconsistent skin color ranges from deep ebony like her father’s to light brown. Shadows may cause some of these differences, but if it weren’t for her identifiable hair, readers might wonder if the same child wanders from page to page. Perhaps most striking of all is Lala’s bedtime story: not an African tale but an American classic. While this might evoke nostalgia in some readers, it also suggests that southern Africa has no comparably great bedtime books for Lala, perhaps in part because American children’s literature dominates the world market.
If Black Lives Matter, they deserve more specificity than this. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: March 14, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-399-17384-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Nancy Paulsen Books
Review Posted Online: Dec. 5, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2016
Who knew that turning the pages could be the best part of a book?
The concept of this picture book is simple enough: 10 birds topple, slip, and dive their way off the titular twig until there is one left. The text itself echoes familiar singsong-y children’s rhymes like “Five Little Pumpkins.” While it mostly succeeds, there are some awkward spots: “5 on a twig, there used to be more… / SNAP! Don’t say a word, now there are four.” (On each page the number is both spelled out and represented as a numeral). The real scene stealer, however, is the book’s interplay between Cole’s illustrations and the physical pages themselves. In much the same way Eric Carle utilizes the pages in The Very Hungry Caterpillar to show the little critter eating its way through the week, Cole uses pages of increasing width to show how the twig grows shorter as each bird falls and marches off purposefully with the others, all headed toward verso with pieces of twig in their beaks. Stylistically, the book is captivating. The very colorful, egg-shaped birds appear on a single, thin black line on a stark white background. This backdrop stands in powerful contrast to the book’s final two pages, which are set against black negative space, a theme echoed in the book’s feather-print endpapers. The heavy, thick pages make it easy for little hands to participate. The text takes a back seat to the playful and compelling design, which is sure to delight readers.
Who knew that turning the pages could be the best part of a book? (Picture book. 2-4)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-72821-593-8
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Sourcebooks Jabberwocky
Review Posted Online: July 13, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2020
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