This, the umpteenth app based on the familiar tale, rises far above most of its brethren. In this cheery, abbreviated version, all three pigs survive—and so does the wolf, who falls into a pot of boiling water but then rockets back up the chimney and runs off howling. The brightly colored, flat, cartoon-style piglets and their unkempt pursuer (the latter driving a delivery van) float through a sunny woodland setting, paced by narrative lines and side comments written in British idiom. “I only want to come in for a chat,” wheedles the wolf; “I’m puffed,” puns a running piglet. Both dialogue and narrative themselves float over sprightly background music. Though both the animation and the transitions are sometimes stiff, each scene offers a healthy dose of hidden animals, figures that can be flipped or moved back and forth, variable dialogue, changeable angles of view and other features. These are activated by touches, swipes, tilting the tablet and even blowing on the screen (readers can help the wolf huff and puff). A cast of British children reads the basic narrative and the touch-activated dialogue with great expression. Opening with buttons to select a silent text, an interactive “Read and Play” option or a slightly less feature-rich rendition that advances on its own for group showings, this engaging and versatile app is equally suited to single or collective viewing. It amply shows that this old dog—er, pig—can still learn new tricks. (iPad storybook app. 5-7)
Pub Date: Feb. 16, 2011
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: Nosy Crow
Review Posted Online: March 4, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Sugary uplift, shrink-wrapped for the masses.
An elusive new quarry leads the How To Catch… kids on a merry chase through a natural history museum.
Taking at least a step away from the “hunters versus prey” vibe of previous entries in the popular series, the racially diverse group of young visitors dashes through various museum halls in pursuit of the eponymous dino—whose quest to “spread kindness and joy ’round the world” takes the form of a mildly tumultuous museum tour. In most of Elkerton’s overly sweet, color-saturated scenes, only portions of the Loveosaurus, who is purple and covered with pink hearts, are visible behind exhibits or lumbering off the page. But the children find small enticements left behind, from craft supplies to make cards for endangered species to pictures of smiley faces, candy heart–style personal notes (“You Rock!” “Give Hugs”), and, in the hall of medieval arms and armor, a sign urging them to “Be Honest Be Kind.” The somewhat heavy-handed lesson comes through loud and clear. “There’s a message, he wants us to think,” hints Walstead to clue in more obtuse readers…and concluding scenes of smiling people young and otherwise exchanging hugs and knuckle bumps, holding doors for a wheelchair rider, and dancing through clouds of sparkles indicate that they, at least, have gotten it. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Sugary uplift, shrink-wrapped for the masses. (Picture book. 5-7)Pub Date: Dec. 6, 2022
ISBN: 9781728268781
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Sourcebooks Wonderland
Review Posted Online: Jan. 17, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Hee haw.
The print version of a knee-slapping cumulative ditty.
In the song, Smith meets a donkey on the road. It is three-legged, and so a “wonky donkey” that, on further examination, has but one eye and so is a “winky wonky donkey” with a taste for country music and therefore a “honky-tonky winky wonky donkey,” and so on to a final characterization as a “spunky hanky-panky cranky stinky-dinky lanky honky-tonky winky wonky donkey.” A free musical recording (of this version, anyway—the author’s website hints at an adults-only version of the song) is available from the publisher and elsewhere online. Even though the book has no included soundtrack, the sly, high-spirited, eye patch–sporting donkey that grins, winks, farts, and clumps its way through the song on a prosthetic metal hoof in Cowley’s informal watercolors supplies comical visual flourishes for the silly wordplay. Look for ready guffaws from young audiences, whether read or sung, though those attuned to disability stereotypes may find themselves wincing instead or as well.
Hee haw. (Picture book. 5-7)Pub Date: May 1, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-545-26124-1
Page Count: 26
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Dec. 28, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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