developed by Trilogy Studios ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 2, 2012
More a memento than a spinoff that will stand on its own—and readers who have seen the movie will be disappointed at how...
A drastically abbreviated version of the 2010 film, with occasional interactive elements and a pair of mildly entertaining side features.
The app preserves the story arc, in which bad guy Gru uses a stolen Shrink Ray to cop the Moon, loses both to rival evil inventor Vector, adopts three little orphan girls to get them back and ends up a besotted foster dad. It strips out most of the action, dialogue and physical comedy, however. The “Storybook” feature is made up of slow-to-load individual scenes that pan, zoom or show small animations as a reader delivers the terse narrative (voiced narration cannot be turned off). Though the text can be whisked into or out of sight with a tap, and some of the animations are activated by a finger swipe or in one case a shake of the tablet, viewers are otherwise relegated to the role of passive observers. A return to the main menu leads either to a trio of animated invention “blueprints” with lines that can be filled in by rubbing or a portrait gallery with audio selections of cast members’ hyperbolically delivered exclamations and bon mots.
More a memento than a spinoff that will stand on its own—and readers who have seen the movie will be disappointed at how much has been left out. (iPad movie tie-in app. 6-8)Pub Date: Feb. 2, 2012
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: Trill Publishing
Review Posted Online: March 13, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2012
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by Crockett Johnson & illustrated by Crockett Johnson & developed by Trilogy Studios
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by Doreen Cronin & illustrated by Harry Bliss ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 1, 2005
The wriggly narrator of Diary of a Worm (2003) puts in occasional appearances, but it’s his arachnid buddy who takes center stage here, with terse, tongue-in-cheek comments on his likes (his close friend Fly, Charlotte’s Web), his dislikes (vacuums, people with big feet), nervous encounters with a huge Daddy Longlegs, his extended family—which includes a Grandpa more than willing to share hard-won wisdom (The secret to a long, happy life: “Never fall asleep in a shoe.”)—and mishaps both at spider school and on the human playground. Bliss endows his garden-dwellers with faces and the odd hat or other accessory, and creates cozy webs or burrows colorfully decorated with corks, scraps, plastic toys and other human detritus. Spider closes with the notion that we could all get along, “just like me and Fly,” if we but got to know one another. Once again, brilliantly hilarious. (Picture book. 6-8)
Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2005
ISBN: 0-06-000153-4
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Joanna Cotler/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2005
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by Doreen Cronin ; illustrated by Brian Cronin
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by Doreen Cronin ; illustrated by Betsy Lewin
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by Doreen Cronin ; illustrated by Betsy Lewin
by Richard Collingridge ; illustrated by Richard Collingridge ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 31, 2018
A fair choice, but it may need some support to really blast off.
This rocket hopes to take its readers on a birthday blast—but there may or may not be enough fuel.
Once a year, a one-seat rocket shoots out from Earth. Why? To reveal a special congratulatory banner for a once-a-year event. The second-person narration puts readers in the pilot’s seat and, through a (mostly) ballad-stanza rhyme scheme (abcb), sends them on a journey toward the sun, past meteors, and into the Kuiper belt. The final pages include additional information on how birthdays are measured against the Earth’s rotations around the sun. Collingridge aims for the stars with this title, and he mostly succeeds. The rhyme scheme flows smoothly, which will make listeners happy, but the illustrations (possibly a combination of paint with digital enhancements) may leave the viewers feeling a little cold. The pilot is seen only with a 1960s-style fishbowl helmet that completely obscures the face, gender, and race by reflecting the interior of the rocket ship. This may allow readers/listeners to picture themselves in the role, but it also may divest them of any emotional connection to the story. The last pages—the backside of a triple-gatefold spread—label the planets and include Pluto. While Pluto is correctly labeled as a dwarf planet, it’s an unusual choice to include it but not the other dwarfs: Ceres, Eris, etc. The illustration also neglects to include the asteroid belt or any of the solar system’s moons.
A fair choice, but it may need some support to really blast off. (Picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: July 31, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-338-18949-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: David Fickling/Phoenix/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: April 15, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2018
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by Richard Collingridge ; illustrated by Richard Collingridge
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