The plot lurches from one surreal scenario to the next, but readers can really amp up the silliness if they’ve a mind to.
As customizable as they come, this tale of a wisecracking meatball on the run from a greedy chef can take longer to set up than to read through.
Pursued by evil Chef Bumbleshoot, who “talks with an accent” (Brooklynese), the small “animated sphere of beef” and the lad in whose backpack he escapes go on a madcap chase. They join a bicycle race and a fashion show, then end up going out for lunch with a princess and a plainspoken cowboy (“Yippee-ki-yay, meatball lovers!”). Though the escapade can be read as downloaded, either silently or with a particularly stilted audio, it can be customized, too. Children inclined to alter the printed text or listen to their own voices can pick names and numerous other details from checklists or add, and record for the audio option, their own choices. Most of the crudely drawn cartoon scenes contain further interactive elements, from lights that switch on or off to a shooting gallery, touch-activated exclamations or snide asides (“And top of the morning to you, there, old Irish guy with hair in his ears!”). There’s also a word game and a foamy “bubble party” at the end. Icons on every screen lead to the main menu and a help feature, but there is no way to skip forward or back, nor a “default” setting to delete user changes all at once.
The plot lurches from one surreal scenario to the next, but readers can really amp up the silliness if they’ve a mind to. (iPad storybook app. 6-9)Pub Date: Dec. 19, 2011
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: The Guys in the Booth
Review Posted Online: Feb. 13, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2012
What a wag.
What do you get from sewing the head of a smart dog onto the body of a tough police officer? A new superhero from the incorrigible creator of Captain Underpants.
Finding a stack of old Dog Mancomics that got them in trouble back in first grade, George and Harold decide to craft a set of new(ish) adventures with (more or less) improved art and spelling. These begin with an origin tale (“A Hero Is Unleashed”), go on to a fiendish attempt to replace the chief of police with a “Robo Chief” and then a temporarily successful scheme to make everyone stupid by erasing all the words from every book (“Book ’Em, Dog Man”), and finish off with a sort of attempted alien invasion evocatively titled “Weenie Wars: The Franks Awaken.” In each, Dog Man squares off against baddies (including superinventor/archnemesis Petey the cat) and saves the day with a clever notion. With occasional pauses for Flip-O-Rama featurettes, the tales are all framed in brightly colored sequential panels with hand-lettered dialogue (“How do you feel, old friend?” “Ruff!”) and narrative. The figures are studiously diverse, with police officers of both genders on view and George, the chief, and several other members of the supporting cast colored in various shades of brown. Pilkey closes as customary with drawing exercises, plus a promise that the canine crusader will be further unleashed in a sequel.
What a wag. (Graphic fantasy. 7-9)Pub Date: Aug. 30, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-545-58160-8
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Graphix/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: May 31, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
BOOK TO SCREEN
Adventure, humor, and smart, likable characters make for a winning chapter book.
Ada Twist’s incessant stream of questions leads to answers that help solve a neighborhood crisis.
Ada conducts experiments at home to answer questions such as, why does Mom’s coffee smell stronger than Dad’s coffee? Each answer leads to another question, another hypothesis, and another experiment, which is how she goes from collecting data on backyard birds for a citizen-science project to helping Rosie Revere figure out how to get her uncle Ned down from the sky, where his helium-filled “perilous pants” are keeping him afloat. The Questioneers—Rosie the engineer, Iggy Peck the architect, and Ada the scientist—work together, asking questions like scientists. Armed with knowledge (of molecules and air pressure, force and temperature) but more importantly, with curiosity, Ada works out a solution. Ada is a recognizable, three-dimensional girl in this delightfully silly chapter book: tirelessly curious and determined yet easily excited and still learning to express herself. If science concepts aren’t completely clear in this romp, relationships and emotions certainly are. In playful full- and half-page illustrations that break up the text, Ada is black with Afro-textured hair; Rosie and Iggy are white. A closing section on citizen science may inspire readers to get involved in science too; on the other hand, the “Ode to a Gas!” may just puzzle them. Other backmatter topics include the importance of bird study and the threat palm-oil use poses to rainforests.
Adventure, humor, and smart, likable characters make for a winning chapter book. (Fiction. 6-9)Pub Date: April 16, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-4197-3422-9
Page Count: 144
Publisher: Amulet/Abrams
Review Posted Online: Jan. 27, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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