Toddlers familiar with the Disney movies or with obliging parents who can help them connect the dots may get something out...
A toddler-sized version of the classic fairy tale.
With one or two words per page, this board book presents the barest bones of the princess’ story. Characters are labeled and plot points shared in brightly colored scenes. While the princess does celebrate a birthday and prick her finger on a spindle, it will seem to most toddler readers that not much happens. She takes a long nap, the prince comes and wakes her up, and everyone at the palace has a party. Three others in the series publish simultaneously and follow a similar format. Rapunzel has also had the scary bits removed, and it looks like the heroine simply gets a haircut and then takes a walk in the woods before meeting her prince. In Beauty and the Beast, the book-loving young girl befriends a purple-horned lion, a fellow bibliophile, who turns into a prince with purple hair. In The Little Mermaid, the mermaid enjoys an adventure with legs on dry land with a friendly prince. The ending is vague here, but it would appear as if the heroine returns home to her family with scales intact. This quartet, which follows the previously published Snow White and Cinderella (2012), features stylized cartoons of characters with oversized heads against brightly colored backgrounds. The cover of each offering includes tactile glitter embellishments.
Toddlers familiar with the Disney movies or with obliging parents who can help them connect the dots may get something out of these summarized versions, but, like Sleeping Beauty’s fairies, the plots are going to fly right over the heads of most board-book readers. (Board book. 2-4)Pub Date: May 7, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-8050-9791-7
Page Count: 26
Publisher: Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: April 30, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2013
BOOK REVIEW
A familiar story skillfully reimagined for today’s gadget-savvy youth.
Hannah Hadley is a young special agent who must thwart a clear and present danger to the United States in Hoover’s “smart is cool” young adult novel.
Hannah Hadley might seem like most 13-year-old girls. She enjoys painting, playing with her MP3 player and spending time with friends. But that’s where the similarities end. Hadley doubles as Agent 10-1, among the youngest spies drafted into the CIA’s Div Y department. She’s joined in her missions by her 10-pound Shih Tzu, Kiwi (with whom she communicates telepathically), and her best friend Tommie Claire, a blind girl with heightened senses. When duty calls, the group sneaks to a hidden command center located under the floor of Hadley’s art studio. Her current mission, aptly named “Operation Farmer Jones,” takes her to a secluded farmhouse in Canada. There, al-Qaida terrorists have gathered the necessary ingredients for a particularly devastating nuclear warhead that they intend to fire into America. The villains are joined by the Mad Madam of Mayhem, a physicist for hire whom the terrorists force to complete the weapon of mass destruction. With Charlie Higson’s Young James Bond series and the ongoing 39 Clues novellas, covert missions and secret plans are the plots of choice in much of today’s fiction for young readers, and references to the famed 007 stories abound in Hoover’s tale. But while the plot feels familiar, Hoover’s use of modern slang—albeit strained at times—and gadgets such as the iTouch appeal to today’s youth. Placing girls in adult situations has been a mainstay since Mildred Wirt Benson first introduced readers to Nancy Drew in The Secret of the Old Clock, but Hannah Hadley is like Nancy Drew on steroids. Both are athletic, score well in their studies and have a measure of popularity. Hadley, however, displays a genius-level intellect and near superhuman abilities in her efforts to roust the terrorists—handy skills for a young teen spy who just so happens to get the best grades in school.
A familiar story skillfully reimagined for today’s gadget-savvy youth.Pub Date: Nov. 15, 2010
ISBN: 978-0615419688
Page Count: 239
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: Jan. 3, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2011
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Pretentious.
These babies are too posh for their own good.
In this smug review of daily life in the Big Apple, including its tourist attractions, the developmental mark is missed entirely. A little girl holds her mother's hand as they stroll through the art museum: “We say MoMA when we really mean Mama.” Less obscurely, a four-panel spread depicts a babe in stroller through changing seasons; the snow piles high and a scarf covers the child's face during the blustery winter. The food-cart experience is represented by a bagel, pizza and pretzel, glossed with a gush: “And we have fun learning our shapes!” In a nod to the city's diversity, youngsters greet each other in a host of languages. Busy pops of bold colors emphasize the hustle and bustle. A darkened cityscape seems to promise rest, but one cry ("Waaaa!") lights up the sky. “New York is the city that never sleeps, but New York babies do…sometimes.” Two concluding pages of suggested parent-child activities overwhelm in their attempt to educate.
Pretentious. (Board book. 2-3)Pub Date: April 1, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-9838121-4-2
Page Count: 22
Publisher: Duo Press
Review Posted Online: June 13, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2012
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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