A clever twist on the “Boy Who Cried Wolf” fable, this story of a prankster wolf who continually fools his friends with false sightings of a four-eyed, flea-ridden boy is pretty slick. Told in cute-enough, often-stumbling rhyming couplets (“Wolf said, ‘Don’t worry! Now go back to sleep / I’ll be your protector, this promise I’ll keep’ ”), the narrative is made lively by layered, densely designed cartoon artwork with nice effects. Some of the characters quake in fear, smoke tendrils convincingly float up from a character’s smoking tail and the visual portrayal of the mythical boy-monster is more silly than scary. The creepy camping-trip locale makes for a nice change of pace, too. There’s also great narration, with expressive changes of tone and a memorable shout of, “BOY!” He learns his lesson when his camping companions, which include an owl, a snail, a chicken and other animals, prank him back. If that isn’t clear enough, a page at the beginning of the story lays out the moral even more directly. With all the animation, interactive elements and sound, the app has a tendency to slow down on some page turns, and in our testing sometimes crashed. And it’s curious why so many of Wolf’s friends crowd so many story pages when they have so little to do. That’s likely by design: Just as “The End” appears, a banner invites readers to download another app, Rabbit & Turtle’s Amazing Race, which features all the same animated animals. (iPad storybook app. 4-8)
Pub Date: Jan. 28, 2011
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: Unicorn Labs
Review Posted Online: Feb. 22, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Not enough tricks to make this a treat.
Another holiday title (How To Catch the Easter Bunny by Adam Wallace, illustrated by Elkerton, 2017) sticks to the popular series’ formula.
Rhyming four-line verses describe seven intrepid trick-or-treaters’ efforts to capture the witch haunting their Halloween. Rhyming roadblocks with toolbox is an acceptable stretch, but too often too many words or syllables in the lines throw off the cadence. Children familiar with earlier titles will recognize the traps set by the costume-clad kids—a pulley and box snare, a “Tunnel of Tricks.” Eventually they accept her invitation to “floss, bump, and boogie,” concluding “the dance party had hit the finale at last, / each dancing monster started to cheer! / There’s no doubt about it, we have to admit: / This witch threw the party of the year!” The kids are diverse, and their costumes are fanciful rather than scary—a unicorn, a dragon, a scarecrow, a red-haired child in a lab coat and bow tie, a wizard, and two space creatures. The monsters, goblins, ghosts, and jack-o'-lanterns, backgrounded by a turquoise and purple night sky, are sufficiently eerie. Still, there isn’t enough originality here to entice any but the most ardent fans of Halloween or the series. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Not enough tricks to make this a treat. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Aug. 2, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-72821-035-3
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Sourcebooks Wonderland
Review Posted Online: May 10, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Only for dedicated fans of the series.
When a kid gets the part of the ninja master in the school play, it finally seems to be the right time to tackle the closet monster.
“I spot my monster right away. / He’s practicing his ROAR. / He almost scares me half to death, / but I won’t be scared anymore!” The monster is a large, fluffy poison-green beast with blue hands and feet and face and a fluffy blue-and-green–striped tail. The kid employs a “bag of tricks” to try to catch the monster: in it are a giant wind-up shark, two cans of silly string, and an elaborate cage-and-robot trap. This last works, but with an unexpected result: the monster looks sad. Turns out he was only scaring the boy to wake him up so they could be friends. The monster greets the boy in the usual monster way: he “rips a massive FART!!” that smells like strawberries and lime, and then they go to the monster’s house to meet his parents and play. The final two spreads show the duo getting ready for bed, which is a rather anticlimactic end to what has otherwise been a rambunctious tale. Elkerton’s bright illustrations have a TV-cartoon aesthetic, and his playful beast is never scary. The narrator is depicted with black eyes and hair and pale skin. Wallace’s limping verses are uninspired at best, and the scansion and meter are frequently off.
Only for dedicated fans of the series. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4926-4894-9
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Sourcebooks Jabberwocky
Review Posted Online: July 14, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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