“Being a fart is so cool!” Farton concludes. Children will not be able to restrain their…applause.
Expelled from Happy Bottom by a stomach cramp, an intrepid young fart explores the world—and beyond—in this breezy import.
As an active member of the Young Explorers Club, Farton sees in his expulsion a dream come true. His adventures range from saving a group of flowers by flying up the nose of a “parfumeur” to (briefly) joining a rock band of malign pollution clouds. After this, the small green puff meets Breeze, a girl fart, and together they float off to nonstop party time in the gassy rings of Saturn. Though the verbose text and simply drawn cartoon illustrations have a low-rent look, the design and interactive effects are unusually artful. Along with a slide-in menu on every screen with a strip index, separate volume adjustments for the sound effects and the rumptious background music, and an English/Spanish toggle, taps on many figures result in a truly impressive array of juicy blats and squelches. There are also squashable bugs, a customizable jam session, clouds that can be “blown” away and other reader-controlled features. Parents unsure of the educational value of this olfactory odyssey will doubtless be appeased by the scholarly introductory doctor’s note.
“Being a fart is so cool!” Farton concludes. Children will not be able to restrain their…applause. (Requires iPad 2 and above.) (iPad storybook app. 6-8)Pub Date: Feb. 9, 2014
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: Makupipe
Review Posted Online: March 30, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2014
Rylant (Henry and Mudge and the Sneaky Crackers, 1998, etc.) slips into a sentimental mode for this latest outing of the boy and his dog, as she sends Mudge and Henry and his parents off on a camping trip. Each character is attended to, each personality sketched in a few brief words: Henry's mother is the camping veteran with outdoor savvy; Henry's father doesn't know a tent stake from a marshmallow fork, but he's got a guitar for campfire entertainment; and the principals are their usual ready-for-fun selves. There are sappy moments, e.g., after an evening of star- gazing, Rylant sends the family off to bed with: ``Everyone slept safe and sound and there were no bears, no scares. Just the clean smell of trees . . . and wonderful green dreams.'' With its nice tempo, the story is as toasty as its campfire and swaddled in Stevenson's trusty artwork. (Fiction. 6-8)
Pub Date: April 1, 1998
ISBN: 0-689-81175-6
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1998
With wordplay reminiscent of Margie Palatini at her best, Helakoski takes four timorous chickens into, then out of, the literal and figurative woods. Fleeing the henhouse after catching sight of a wolf, the pusillanimous pullets come to a deep ditch: “ ‘What if we can’t jump that far?’ ‘What if we fall in the ditch?’ ‘What if we get sucked into the mud?’ The chickens tutted, putted, and flutted. They butted into themselves and each other, until one by one . . . ” they do fall in. But then they pick themselves up and struggle out. Ensuing encounters with cows and a lake furnish similar responses and outcomes; ultimately they tumble into the wolf’s very cave, where they “picked, pecked, and pocked. They ruffled, puffled, and shuffled. They shrieked, squeaked, and freaked, until . . . ” their nemesis scampers away in panic. Fluttering about in pop-eyed terror, the portly, partly clothed hens make comical figures in Cole’s sunny cartoons (as does the flummoxed wolf)—but the genuine triumph in their final strut—“ ‘I am a big, brave chicken,’ said one chicken. ‘Ohh . . . ’ said the others. ‘Me too.’ ‘Me three.’ ‘Me four’ ”—brings this tribute to chicken power to a rousing close. (Picture book. 6-8)
Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-525-47575-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Dutton
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2005
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
