Dr. Lilliput’s tale is much like a spoonful of sugar: sweet but not actually beneficial, unless it helps the medicine go...
Dr. Lilliput might make a sick child laugh, but he won’t really help readers understand what’s happening when they get a cold.
Whenever the villain Virus and his Band of Bacteria strike, the good doctor knows just what to do. Young Linus has come down with a cold, so the miniature Dr. Lilliput flies his trusty ambulance right up into Linus’ nose to battle the infection. Linus’ immune system, personified as guards trapped inside the sticky mucus, cannot fight the virus until Dr. Lilliput sets them free with squirts of saline spray. The cartoon illustrations and interactive games will draw readers into the story, but they provide humorous treatment rather than factual information. It is never quite clear how the guards battle the virus or how camomile flowers help soothe Linus’ sore throat. Fact boxes, hidden behind info buttons, do not provide enough detail to answer these and other questions. The English-accented narration is smooth, but interactions can be sluggish. In addition, an inadvertent tilt of the iPad can cause the ambulance to disappear, leaving readers unable to get it to Linus’ nose. One fact box is in German, without English translation.
Dr. Lilliput’s tale is much like a spoonful of sugar: sweet but not actually beneficial, unless it helps the medicine go down. (Requires iPad 2 and above.) (iPad storybook app. 4-8)Pub Date: May 24, 2014
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: GESAMTKUNSTWERK Entertaiment GmbH
Review Posted Online: Aug. 5, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2014
What if the market was closed when you wanted to bake a pie? You could embark for Europe, learn Italian en route, and pick up some semolina wheat in Italy, an egg in France, kurundu bark for cinnamon in Sri Lanka, and an entire cow in England (butter) before coming home via Jamaica (sugar) and Vermont (apples). The expertly designed illustrations in which a dark-haired lass journeys by various means to these interesting places to get her groceries are lovely and lively, and the narrative, too, travels at a spritely pace. The journey is neither quite logical enough to be truly informative nor quite bizarre enough to be satisfyingly silly, while the rich, sweet recipe that's appended will take some adult assistance. Still, fun. (Picture book. 4-8)
Pub Date: May 2, 1994
ISBN: 0-679-83705-1
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 1994
Though told by two outsiders to the culture, this timely and well-crafted story will educate readers on the preciousness of...
An international story tackles a serious global issue with Reynolds’ characteristic visual whimsy.
Gie Gie—aka Princess Gie Gie—lives with her parents in Burkina Faso. In her kingdom under “the African sky, so wild and so close,” she can tame wild dogs with her song and make grass sway, but despite grand attempts, she can neither bring the water closer to home nor make it clean. French words such as “maintenant!” (now!) and “maman” (mother) and local color like the karite tree and shea nuts place the story in a French-speaking African country. Every morning, Gie Gie and her mother perch rings of cloth and large clay pots on their heads and walk miles to the nearest well to fetch murky, brown water. The story is inspired by model Georgie Badiel, who founded the Georgie Badiel Foundation to make clean water accessible to West Africans. The details in Reynolds’ expressive illustrations highlight the beauty of the West African landscape and of Princess Gie Gie, with her cornrowed and beaded hair, but will also help readers understand that everyone needs clean water—from the children of Burkina Faso to the children of Flint, Michigan.
Though told by two outsiders to the culture, this timely and well-crafted story will educate readers on the preciousness of potable water. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: Sept. 13, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-399-17258-8
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: May 17, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2016
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