Here’s one e-book that doesn’t lay an egg.
You say potAHto, and I say potAto; you say eGGzactly and I say eXactly.
You’re wrong, eggcept maybe if you’re from BAHston. OK, we’ll let you slide on the potato, but we have to call you on the “GG.” This is most definitely an amuse-as-you-instruct application from Maysonave, embedded with plenty of definitions of words such as umpteen, Chinook, perused, caviar and ransacked. There are also quick but complete fun facts—“Female crows typically lay a clutch of three to seven eggs”; “A nocturnal mammal, the fox only hunts for its food at night”—and other interactive features that are minor (often maddening) adventures to find and deploy. It’s not much of a story, per se, more an associative exploration of sound. The gist of the matter is to pronounce “ex” like “x,” and not like “egg”: exactly, extraordinary, exuberant, exemplar and exceptional, for starters. It is set in a kingdom of waxy pastels with a kind of Yellow Submarine kookiness, and the interaction is vigorous without being frantic. The characters have a static feel that lend a dreamy quality to the proceedings, as does the general psychedelic tone, but this is far from solely eye candy, though it does go on for a very long time.
Here’s one e-book that doesn’t lay an egg. (iPad enhanced e-book. 4-10)Pub Date: March 12, 2013
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: Mania Tales
Review Posted Online: Dec. 6, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2013
Continuing to find inspiration in the work of Virginia Lee Burton, Munro Leaf and other illustrators of the past, Long (The Little Engine That Could, 2005) offers an aw-shucks friendship tale that features a small but hardworking tractor (“putt puff puttedy chuff”) with a Little Toot–style face and a big-eared young descendant of Ferdinand the bull who gets stuck in deep, gooey mud. After the big new yellow tractor, crowds of overalls-clad locals and a red fire engine all fail to pull her out, the little tractor (who had been left behind the barn to rust after the arrival of the new tractor) comes putt-puff-puttedy-chuff-ing down the hill to entice his terrified bovine buddy successfully back to dry ground. Short on internal logic but long on creamy scenes of calf and tractor either gamboling energetically with a gaggle of McCloskey-like geese through neutral-toned fields or resting peacefully in the shade of a gnarled tree (apple, not cork), the episode will certainly draw nostalgic adults. Considering the author’s track record and influences, it may find a welcome from younger audiences too. (Picture book. 5-8)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2009
ISBN: 978-0-399-25248-8
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Philomel
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2009
SEEN & HEARD
This bunny escapes all the traps but fails to find a logical plot or an emotional connection with readers.
The bestselling series (How to Catch an Elf, 2016, etc.) about capturing mythical creatures continues with a story about various ways to catch the Easter Bunny as it makes its annual deliveries.
The bunny narrates its own story in rhyming text, beginning with an introduction at its office in a manufacturing facility that creates Easter eggs and candy. The rabbit then abruptly takes off on its delivery route with a tiny basket of eggs strapped to its back, immediately encountering a trap with carrots and a box propped up with a stick. The narrative focuses on how the Easter Bunny avoids increasingly complex traps set up to catch him with no explanation as to who has set the traps or why. These traps include an underground tunnel, a fluorescent dance floor with a hidden pit of carrots, a robot bunny, pirates on an island, and a cannon that shoots candy fish, as well as some sort of locked, hazardous site with radiation danger. Readers of previous books in the series will understand the premise, but others will be confused by the rabbit’s frenetic escapades. Cartoon-style illustrations have a 1960s vibe, with a slightly scary, bow-tied bunny with chartreuse eyes and a glowing palette of neon shades that shout for attention.
This bunny escapes all the traps but fails to find a logical plot or an emotional connection with readers. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4926-3817-9
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Sourcebooks Jabberwocky
Review Posted Online: Jan. 16, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2017
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