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MEGAMAMMAL MEG

Name: MEGAMAMMAL MEG
Author: Sandra Vohs

MEG ATHERIUM'S GUIDE TO THE GREATEST MAMMALS THAT EVER LIVED!

by Sandra Vohs & illustrated by Daryl Lynch & developed by 3r Interactive LLC ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 28, 2013

Perhaps it’s time to chime in on her rallying cry: “Boycott dinosaur lunch boxes! No more dinosaur books at story time!” As...

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For children (and grown-ups) who are sick of dinos, dinos, dinos 24/7, here’s a plea from “Meg Atherium” to remember the giant prehistoric mammals.

“I’d like your undivided attention because I’ve got some complaining to do,” opens the shaggy ground sloth in Lynch’s minimally detailed cartoons. Sure, dinosaurs ruled the Earth for 120 million years and then disappeared through tantalizingly mysterious causes. So what? Why should they get all the movies, books, posters, breakfast cereals, pajamas and lunch boxes? Claiming that nonreptiles deserve at least as much respect, Meg introduces herself and a gallery of equally jumbo Cenozoic Era animals. These include Baluchitherium (Meg calls him “Big Baluka”) and the 7-foot-tall bird Diatryma, which also mysteriously died out. The optional voice-over is particularly lively. Paired to images of extinct creatures that look like plush toys and respond to taps with a diverse array of silly noises or small animations, Meg’s argument may strike many as compelling.

Perhaps it’s time to chime in on her rallying cry: “Boycott dinosaur lunch boxes! No more dinosaur books at story time!” As if—but she makes a strong case. (iPad informational app. 6-8)

Pub Date: March 28, 2013

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: 3r Interactive LLC

Review Posted Online: Aug. 13, 2013

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2013

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BIG CHICKENS

by Leslie Helakoski & illustrated by Henry Cole ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 1, 2006

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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

Categories:

CHILDREN'S ANIMALS

- BOOK REVIEW
WHEN THE RAIN CAME DOWN
by Leslie Helakoski ; illustrated by Keisha Morris

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ARE YOUR STARS LIKE MY STARS?
by Leslie Helakoski ; illustrated by Heidi Woodward Sheffield

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READY OR NOT, WOOLBUR GOES TO SCHOOL!
by Leslie Helakoski ; illustrated by Lee Harper

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THE STORM

From the Lighthouse Family series , Vol. 1

by Cynthia Rylant & illustrated by Preston McDaniels ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 1, 2002

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At her best, Rylant’s (The Ticky-Tacky Doll, below, etc.) sweetness and sentiment fills the heart; in this outing, however, sentimentality reigns and the end result is pretty gooey. Pandora keeps a lighthouse: her destiny is to protect ships at sea. She’s lonely, but loves her work. She rescues Seabold and heals his broken leg, and he stays on to mend his shipwrecked boat. This wouldn’t be so bad but Pandora’s a cat and Seabold a dog, although they are anthropomorphized to the max. Then the duo rescue three siblings—mice!—and make a family together, although Rylant is careful to note that Pandora and Seabold each have their own room. Choosing what you love, caring for others, making a family out of love, it is all very well, but this capsizes into silliness. Formatted to look like the start of a new series. Oh, dear. (Fiction. 6-8)