EGGMANIA

Name: EGGMANIA
Author: Sherry Maysonave

by Sherry Maysonave & illustrated by Denise Caliva & developed by Empowerment Productions ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 12, 2013

Here’s one e-book that doesn’t lay an egg.

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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

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TALES FOR VERY PICKY EATERS

by Josh Schneider & illustrated by Josh Schneider ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 1, 2011

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Broccoli: No way is James going to eat broccoli. “It’s disgusting,” says James. Well then, James, says his father, let’s consider the alternatives: some wormy dirt, perhaps, some stinky socks, some pre-chewed gum? James reconsiders the broccoli, but—milk? “Blech,” says James. Right, says his father, who needs strong bones? You’ll be great at hide-and-seek, though not so great at baseball and kickball and even tickling the dog’s belly. James takes a mouthful. So it goes through lumpy oatmeal, mushroom lasagna and slimy eggs, with James’ father parrying his son’s every picky thrust. And it is fun, because the father’s retorts are so outlandish: the lasagna-making troll in the basement who will be sent back to the rat circus, there to endure the rodent’s vicious bites; the uneaten oatmeal that will grow and grow and probably devour the dog that the boy won’t be able to tickle any longer since his bones are so rubbery. Schneider’s watercolors catch the mood of gentle ribbing, the looks of bewilderment and surrender and the deadpanned malarkey. It all makes James’ father’s last urging—“I was just going to say that you might like them if you tried them”—wholly fresh and unexpected advice. (Early reader. 5-9)

Pub Date: May 1, 2011

ISBN: 978-0-547-14956-1

Page Count: 48

Publisher: Clarion Books

Review Posted Online: April 4, 2011

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2011

Categories:

CHILDREN'S GENERAL CHILDREN'S

- BOOK REVIEW
ULTRABOT'S FIRST PLAYDATE
by Josh Schneider ; illustrated by Josh Schneider

- BOOK REVIEW
KID AMAZING VS. THE BLOB
by Josh Schneider ; illustrated by Josh Schneider

- BOOK REVIEW
EVERYBODY SLEEPS (BUT NOT FRED)
by Josh Schneider ; illustrated by Josh Schneider

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ABIYOYO RETURNS

by Pete Seeger & Paul Dubois Jacobs & illustrated by Michael Hays ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 1, 2001

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The seemingly ageless Seeger brings back his renowned giant for another go in a tuneful tale that, like the art, is a bit sketchy, but chockful of worthy messages. Faced with yearly floods and droughts since they’ve cut down all their trees, the townsfolk decide to build a dam—but the project is stymied by a boulder that is too huge to move. Call on Abiyoyo, suggests the granddaughter of the man with the magic wand, then just “Zoop Zoop” him away again. But the rock that Abiyoyo obligingly flings aside smashes the wand. How to avoid Abiyoyo’s destruction now? Sing the monster to sleep, then make it a peaceful, tree-planting member of the community, of course. Seeger sums it up in a postscript: “every community must learn to manage its giants.” Hays, who illustrated the original (1986), creates colorful, if unfinished-looking, scenes featuring a notably multicultural human cast and a towering Cubist fantasy of a giant. The song, based on a Xhosa lullaby, still has that hard-to-resist sing-along potential, and the themes of waging peace, collective action, and the benefits of sound ecological practices are presented in ways that children will both appreciate and enjoy. (Picture book. 5-9)