With unassuming art and both prose and characters sporting low-key Welsh inflections, this is an engaging natural for both...
A new version of the original story line from an animated British television series first shown in the ’50s features a close, if less anthropomorphic, cousin of Thomas the Tank Engine.
“Not very long ago, in the top left-hand corner of Wales, there was a railway.” When Ivor, the one locomotive on that railway, hears the local Grumbly and District Choral Society and develops a yen to join in, it’s up to Dai Stationmaster and engineer Jones the Steam to figure out the problem and track down a properly mellifluous set of organ pipes to replace the engine’s whistle. Viewed through a window that occupies half the real estate on each portrait-mode–only screen, the informal pen-and-watercolor illustrations (done by the original cartoonist) pan and zoom slowly as an avuncular narrator reads, backed by sprightly brass background music supplemented by the occasional bit of dialogue or song. A tap on either bottom corner turns the page. Though there is no quick way to skip screens and no option to turn off the narration while keeping the background sounds, the tale flows smoothly along to its happy, musical resolution. An “Ivor” game is available as another app.
With unassuming art and both prose and characters sporting low-key Welsh inflections, this is an engaging natural for both shared and independent reading. (iPad storybook app. 7-9)Pub Date: Sept. 3, 2011
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: Dreadnought Design
Review Posted Online: Sept. 27, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2011
A nifty high-seas caper for chapter-book readers with a love of adventure and a yearning for treasure.
It’s not truffles but doubloons that tickle this porcine wayfarer’s fancy.
Funke and Meyer make another foray into chapter-book fare after Emma and the Blue Genie (2014). Here, mariner Stout Sam and deckhand Pip eke out a comfortable existence on Butterfly Island ferrying cargo to and fro. Life is good, but it takes an unexpected turn when a barrel washes ashore containing a pig with a skull-and-crossbones pendant around her neck. It soon becomes clear that this little piggy, dubbed Julie, has the ability to sniff out treasure—lots of it—in the sea. The duo is pleased with her skills, but pride goeth before the hog. Stout Sam hands out some baubles to the local children, and his largess attracts the unwanted attention of Barracuda Bill and his nasty minions. Now they’ve pignapped Julie, and it’s up to the intrepid sailors to save the porker and their own bacon. The succinct word count meets the needs of kids looking for early adventure fare. The tale is slight, bouncy, and amusing, though Julie is never the piratical buccaneer the book’s cover seems to suggest. Meanwhile, Meyer’s cheery watercolors are as comfortable diagramming the different parts of a pirate vessel as they are rendering the dread pirate captain himself.
A nifty high-seas caper for chapter-book readers with a love of adventure and a yearning for treasure. (Adventure. 7-9)Pub Date: June 23, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-385-37544-3
Page Count: 80
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: March 16, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2015
A foodie’s delight, with a sweet message between the layers.
It’s all about the yum in this tale from Tosi, founder of Milk Bar, a chain of bakeries.
Now that his mom and dad are living apart, young Phil finds that his delectable double chocolate cake isn’t the same when he prepares it with just one parent at a time. Nor does making brownies with one and s’mores with the other quite butter the biscuit. His peanut butter cookie–making partner, Sammi, tells him that “every cake has a story. And sometimes stories change.” That sends him to the grocery store for inspiration and leads to a mouthwatering epiphany: “A Chocolate Brownie PB S’mores layer cake!” "New could be exciting and special,” enthuses the author before closing with a challenging but feasible recipe (with the suggestion to torch the top properly left for grown-up sous-chefs). Reinforcing the upbeat tone and positive outlook in this tale of family changes, Balsley’s cartoon illustrations depict a young patissier presenting the very picture of culinary self-confidence as he bustles about two kitchens while his parents look on affectionately and lend an occasional willing ear or hand. This one is best when dished up with sweets and a napkin, like all the better pastry-centered picture books. Phil and his father are tan-skinned, Mom is brown-skinned, and Sammi is light-skinned. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
A foodie’s delight, with a sweet message between the layers. (Picture book. 7-9)Pub Date: Feb. 7, 2023
ISBN: 9780593110713
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Rocky Pond Books/Penguin
Review Posted Online: March 13, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2023
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