It's an entertaining read that misses greatness...but just bearly.
Two bears from very different places meet and bond over their love of fish in a pleasant-enough app that has a few clever touches.
Big, brown, hungry Bear snags his fishing rod on a small iceberg with a polar bear standing on top of it. Polar Bear comes bearing armfuls of fish, and that's enough to win Bear's affection. "Now a fish to a bear / Is like a chocolate éclair, / It's INCREDIBLY hard to resist. // So the thought of a pile / That would last for a while / Was an offer too good to be missed!" But Polar Bear's stay in the forest doesn't last long, and soon the pair is seeking a cooler, snowier home. While the story doesn't win many points for originality or interesting twists, it's beautifully illustrated throughout. The bears’ fur is lovingly detailed and textured, and the movements of the characters work well with the rest of the app's expert animation. The rhyming text is well-paced and charming; it's read jauntily by Australian actor Angus Sampson. And while the interactive elements aren't mind-blowing—some character movements and a game that challenges readers to find fish hidden within the story—there are a few moments of innovation: The app's title page shows the two bears facing each other as their eyes follow the places where the screen is tapped, for instance.
It's an entertaining read that misses greatness...but just bearly. (iPad storybook app. 2-7)Pub Date: June 15, 2012
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: Wheelbarrow
Review Posted Online: Aug. 7, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2012
Little Blue’s fans will enjoy the animal sounds and counting opportunities, but it’s the sparkling lights on the truck’s own...
The sturdy Little Blue Truck is back for his third adventure, this time delivering Christmas trees to his band of animal pals.
The truck is decked out for the season with a Christmas wreath that suggests a nose between headlights acting as eyeballs. Little Blue loads up with trees at Toad’s Trees, where five trees are marked with numbered tags. These five trees are counted and arithmetically manipulated in various ways throughout the rhyming story as they are dropped off one by one to Little Blue’s friends. The final tree is reserved for the truck’s own use at his garage home, where he is welcomed back by the tree salestoad in a neatly circular fashion. The last tree is already decorated, and Little Blue gets a surprise along with readers, as tiny lights embedded in the illustrations sparkle for a few seconds when the last page is turned. Though it’s a gimmick, it’s a pleasant surprise, and it fits with the retro atmosphere of the snowy country scenes. The short, rhyming text is accented with colored highlights, red for the animal sounds and bright green for the numerical words in the Christmas-tree countdown.
Little Blue’s fans will enjoy the animal sounds and counting opportunities, but it’s the sparkling lights on the truck’s own tree that will put a twinkle in a toddler’s eyes. (Picture book. 2-5)Pub Date: Sept. 23, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-544-32041-3
Page Count: 24
Publisher: HMH Books
Review Posted Online: Aug. 11, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2014
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A sweet, soft conversation starter and a charming gift.
A paean to teachers and their surrogates everywhere.
This gentle ode to a teacher’s skill at inspiring, encouraging, and being a role model is spoken, presumably, from a child’s viewpoint. However, the voice could equally be that of an adult, because who can’t look back upon teachers or other early mentors who gave of themselves and offered their pupils so much? Indeed, some of the self-aware, self-assured expressions herein seem perhaps more realistic as uttered from one who’s already grown. Alternatively, readers won’t fail to note that this small book, illustrated with gentle soy-ink drawings and featuring an adult-child bear duo engaged in various sedentary and lively pursuits, could just as easily be about human parent- (or grandparent-) child pairs: some of the softly colored illustrations depict scenarios that are more likely to occur within a home and/or other family-oriented setting. Makes sense: aren’t parents and other close family members children’s first teachers? This duality suggests that the book might be best shared one-on-one between a nostalgic adult and a child who’s developed some self-confidence, having learned a thing or two from a parent, grandparent, older relative, or classroom instructor.
A sweet, soft conversation starter and a charming gift. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: March 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-943200-08-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Compendium
Review Posted Online: Dec. 13, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2017
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