COYOTE'S TALE
by Ruby Lee illustrated by Robin Joseph developed by Skyreader Media
A select set of quiet yips, howls and giggles, plus the occasional blink or twitch of a nose, add fetching notes to an abbreviated trickster tale with Latin American antecedents.
Locked in portrait mode and framed in two or three sequential panels per screen, the illustrations feature a sinuous, sinister-looking coyote and a canny young rabbit with outsized ears. The coyote diverted from his nighttime dinner plans when his intended prey, the aforementioned rabbit, points out a tempting round of moon-shaped "cheese" in the nearby pond. Releasing Rabbit on the promise to return with bread for the upcoming meal (as if), in dives Coyote—only to realize too late that he's been suckered by his own greed. A slide-up menu not only reveals a strip of thumbnail page images but allows the touch-activated sound effects, auto advance and a spirited, three-voiced narration to be independently switched on or off at any point. Though the pages are a little slow to load, this version of the 2009 print edition makes a smooth leap into the digital domain, and both newly independent readers and those who haven't yet struck out on their own will enjoy seeing Rabbit's cleverness in action.