There’s a moral here, but it’s not the intended one.
Interactive diversions are given considerably more attention than the story in this multilingual version of the Aesopian fable.
Giving neither Aesop nor any other source a mention, the briefly retold tale has Fox, “wanting to pleaseher [sic] new friend” (rather than to play a trick), inviting Crane over for a “treat” that Crane cannot eat, as it’s served in a bowl. Crane returns the invitation and serves a meal to Fox in a long-necked vase—thus sending her away peeved and ending the supposed friendship. The text is available in six European languages including the original Russian, plus “English USA” and “English GB.” Details vary considerably in these last two versions (which are read in appropriate accents) and don’t always agree with the illustrations: The American Fox serves oatmeal and gets corn chowder in return, and the British one gets soup after dishing up rice pudding, but in neither rendition is any oatmeal, rice or corn visible in the respective kitchen scenes. Furthermore, the wording isn’t always sure in either rendition—the British Crane unintuitively “peck[s] up all the soup”; the American Fox “mill[s] around the pitcher”—and the American moral, “What goes around comes around,” is both absent in the other and likely to flummox young readers in any country. Delicately drawn illustrations with a traceable maze, a “concentration” game and other touch-responsive features can’t compensate for the story’s fundamental incoherence.
There’s a moral here, but it’s not the intended one. (iPad storybook app. 6-8)Pub Date: Jan. 9, 2014
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: Mumuin.com
Review Posted Online: April 15, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2014
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
A fair choice, but it may need some support to really blast off.
This rocket hopes to take its readers on a birthday blast—but there may or may not be enough fuel.
Once a year, a one-seat rocket shoots out from Earth. Why? To reveal a special congratulatory banner for a once-a-year event. The second-person narration puts readers in the pilot’s seat and, through a (mostly) ballad-stanza rhyme scheme (abcb), sends them on a journey toward the sun, past meteors, and into the Kuiper belt. The final pages include additional information on how birthdays are measured against the Earth’s rotations around the sun. Collingridge aims for the stars with this title, and he mostly succeeds. The rhyme scheme flows smoothly, which will make listeners happy, but the illustrations (possibly a combination of paint with digital enhancements) may leave the viewers feeling a little cold. The pilot is seen only with a 1960s-style fishbowl helmet that completely obscures the face, gender, and race by reflecting the interior of the rocket ship. This may allow readers/listeners to picture themselves in the role, but it also may divest them of any emotional connection to the story. The last pages—the backside of a triple-gatefold spread—label the planets and include Pluto. While Pluto is correctly labeled as a dwarf planet, it’s an unusual choice to include it but not the other dwarfs: Ceres, Eris, etc. The illustration also neglects to include the asteroid belt or any of the solar system’s moons.
A fair choice, but it may need some support to really blast off. (Picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: July 31, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-338-18949-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: David Fickling/Phoenix/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: April 15, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2018
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