It's too early to tell if the running joke of Millie's outsized adventures will get old, but at least in this first set of...
A new app series that combines several genres and styles to create a doggie adventure that feels fresh, Millie Was Here is off to a fetching start with a free preview—Meet Millie—and this separate full-length story.
Millie is a globe-trotting adventurer—though you would probably never know it if the mundane photos she's featured in hadn't been modified to put her on computer-generated planes or facing real-life boats with pasted-in pirate flags. The entire story is like that: overheated narration and text juxtaposed with otherwise plain dog-about-town pictures. "The island was dark and mysterious," the narrator intones as the fluffy black-and-white lapdog stands, leashed, in a pleasant urban park. But the trick works because the app is designed so well and has a sense of humor. It offers surprises on every page, from pull tabs that reveal hidden treasures to scratch-off games and hidden collectible cards. Though Millie's quest for the Lost Key to Endless Bacon feels a bit longer than necessary at 22 pages, the clever touches throughout, such as a stuffed animal who that is Millie's evil archenemy, are amusing and well-executed. Sound design, navigation and music are all high-quality, and a "Bedtime Mode" option that lowers the volume and dims the screen for nighttime reading is a welcome feature.
It's too early to tell if the running joke of Millie's outsized adventures will get old, but at least in this first set of apps, Millie more than earns whatever kibble App Store sales may provide for her. (iPad storybook app. 4-10)Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2011
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: MegaPops
Review Posted Online: Sept. 3, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
Pete’s fans might find it groovy; anyone else has plenty of other “12 Days of Christmas” variants to choose among
Pete, the cat who couldn’t care less, celebrates Christmas with his inimitable lassitude.
If it weren’t part of the title and repeated on every other page, readers unfamiliar with Pete’s shtick might have a hard time arriving at “groovy” to describe his Christmas celebration, as the expressionless cat displays not a hint of groove in Dean’s now-trademark illustrations. Nor does Pete have a great sense of scansion: “On the first day of Christmas, / Pete gave to me… / A road trip to the sea. / GROOVY!” The cat is shown at the wheel of a yellow microbus strung with garland and lights and with a star-topped tree tied to its roof. On the second day of Christmas Pete gives “me” (here depicted as a gray squirrel who gets on the bus) “2 fuzzy gloves, and a road trip to the sea. / GROOVY!” On the third day, he gives “me” (now a white cat who joins Pete and the squirrel) “3 yummy cupcakes,” etc. The “me” mentioned in the lyrics changes from day to day and gift to gift, with “4 far-out surfboards” (a frog), “5 onion rings” (crocodile), and “6 skateboards rolling” (a yellow bird that shares its skateboards with the white cat, the squirrel, the frog, and the crocodile while Pete drives on). Gifts and animals pile on until the microbus finally arrives at the seaside and readers are told yet again that it’s all “GROOVY!”
Pete’s fans might find it groovy; anyone else has plenty of other “12 Days of Christmas” variants to choose among . (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Sept. 18, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-06-267527-9
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Aug. 19, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Broccoli: No way is James going to eat broccoli. “It’s disgusting,” says James. Well then, James, says his father, let’s consider the alternatives: some wormy dirt, perhaps, some stinky socks, some pre-chewed gum? James reconsiders the broccoli, but—milk? “Blech,” says James. Right, says his father, who needs strong bones? You’ll be great at hide-and-seek, though not so great at baseball and kickball and even tickling the dog’s belly. James takes a mouthful. So it goes through lumpy oatmeal, mushroom lasagna and slimy eggs, with James’ father parrying his son’s every picky thrust. And it is fun, because the father’s retorts are so outlandish: the lasagna-making troll in the basement who will be sent back to the rat circus, there to endure the rodent’s vicious bites; the uneaten oatmeal that will grow and grow and probably devour the dog that the boy won’t be able to tickle any longer since his bones are so rubbery. Schneider’s watercolors catch the mood of gentle ribbing, the looks of bewilderment and surrender and the deadpanned malarkey. It all makes James’ father’s last urging—“I was just going to say that you might like them if you tried them”—wholly fresh and unexpected advice. (Early reader. 5-9)
Pub Date: May 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-547-14956-1
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: April 4, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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