A grab bag of stories and storytelling-workshop elements, with lively, fluent prose and art that really deserves better...
Torrents of words and pictures, plus ingenious software design, propel a more-or-less–linked pair of clever but half-baked tales.
Before dissolving into incoherence, the titular story leads the prince of a country beset by spell-casting witches to the discovery that he can wake an enchanted dog with a kiss, but a sleeping princess requires different magic—that is, a polite introduction. This is related on 35 illustrated sepia page spreads in portrait orientation; when the tablet is turned to landscape view, a new, colored and more detailed picture appears (mystifyingly called a couplet). Another tab on the main screen opens four writer and illustrator “starter” pages that are revealed in succession by turning the tablet through a full circle. A third tab leads to an audio lecture with animated cartoons on reading aloud with expression (“It is the reader who enters the story, and adds the final, essential touches”), delivered by a gushing tarsier. Finally, in a twee multichapter “Making Of” feature, a writer elf skips the usual publishing approval process but after developing her Waking Prince story idea with an illustrator elf, a designer elf and an editor elf, wins over the frowning Elf Elders. (No doubt it all happened just that way.)
A grab bag of stories and storytelling-workshop elements, with lively, fluent prose and art that really deserves better plotlines. (iPad storybook/instructional app. 7-9, adult)Pub Date: Dec. 3, 2012
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: The Story Elves
Review Posted Online: March 12, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2013
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
SEEN & HEARD
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
It’s hard to argue with success, but guides that actually do the math will be more useful to budding capitalists.
How to raise money for a coveted poster: put your friends to work!
John, founder of the FUBU fashion line and a Shark Tank venture capitalist, offers a self-referential blueprint for financial success. Having only half of the $10 he needs for a Minka J poster, Daymond forks over $1 to buy a plain T-shirt, paints a picture of the pop star on it, sells it for $5, and uses all of his cash to buy nine more shirts. Then he recruits three friends to decorate them with his design and help sell them for an unspecified amount (from a conveniently free and empty street-fair booth) until they’re gone. The enterprising entrepreneur reimburses himself for the shirts and splits the remaining proceeds, which leaves him with enough for that poster as well as a “brand-new business book,” while his friends express other fiscal strategies: saving their share, spending it all on new art supplies, or donating part and buying a (math) book with the rest. (In a closing summation, the author also suggests investing in stocks, bonds, or cryptocurrency.) Though Miles cranks up the visual energy in her sparsely detailed illustrations by incorporating bright colors and lots of greenbacks, the actual advice feels a bit vague. Daymond is Black; most of the cast are people of color. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
It’s hard to argue with success, but guides that actually do the math will be more useful to budding capitalists. (Picture book. 7-9)Pub Date: March 21, 2023
ISBN: 978-0-593-56727-2
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: Dec. 13, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2023
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