Handsome packaging, but with such a silly plot and limited slate of games, it's far less than meets the eye.
A game-centric app offering an abruptly chopped off story about a heroic chinchilla aviator who opens a mystical portal between Easter Island and…San Francisco.
On the “Storybook” track, young Undoda (pronounced "un-doo-da"), who has “a special gift to see the world in reverse,” befriends a rebel bird warrior named Amira. She flies him to the ruined city of Dow Nunder—inhabited only by talking animals, though presumably humans were there once—where he “reverse engineers” wrecked machinery into an aircraft. Back on Easter Island, Amira distracts a giant attacker while Undoda and his father unlock the secret of the Books of Was and Saw—joined together, they open a portal to Golden Gate (or “Gold Gate,” as it’s called earlier). The good guys escape through the portal and find that the past has changed—or, as Undoda opaquely puts it, “In the future, I was what I saw?!” Multiple typos muddy the text; these, combined with cramped and confusing screens, show that the designers’ focus was less on the story than on the trio of associated games in the “Free Play” option. Those comprise a matching game and two tilt-driven variations on pinball, all with an impressive nine levels of difficulty. Children can also opt for the “Adventure” mode, which is a hybrid with the games and story interleaved. The audio narration and New Age background music can be turned off separately.
Handsome packaging, but with such a silly plot and limited slate of games, it's far less than meets the eye. (iPad storybook/game app. 7-10)Pub Date: April 11, 2011
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: Undoda Multimind Games
Review Posted Online: May 9, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2011
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
A picture book worth reading about a historical figure worth remembering.
An honestly told biography of an important politician whose name every American should know.
Published while the United States has its first African-American president, this story of John Roy Lynch, the first African-American speaker of the Mississippi House of Representatives, lays bare the long and arduous path black Americans have walked to obtain equality. The title’s first three words—“The Amazing Age”—emphasize how many more freedoms African-Americans had during Reconstruction than for decades afterward. Barton and Tate do not shy away from honest depictions of slavery, floggings, the Ku Klux Klan, Jim Crow laws, or the various means of intimidation that whites employed to prevent blacks from voting and living lives equal to those of whites. Like President Barack Obama, Lynch was of biracial descent; born to an enslaved mother and an Irish father, he did not know hard labor until his slave mistress asked him a question that he answered honestly. Freed by the Emancipation Proclamation, Lynch had a long and varied career that points to his resilience and perseverance. Tate’s bright watercolor illustrations often belie the harshness of what takes place within them; though this sometimes creates a visual conflict, it may also make the book more palatable for young readers unaware of the violence African-Americans have suffered than fully graphic images would. A historical note, timeline, author’s and illustrator’s notes, bibliography and map are appended.
A picture book worth reading about a historical figure worth remembering. (Picture book biography. 7-10)Pub Date: April 1, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-8028-5379-0
Page Count: 50
Publisher: Eerdmans
Review Posted Online: Feb. 2, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2015
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