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BIBO, THE LITTLE MONSTER by Vasiliy Poryagin

BIBO, THE LITTLE MONSTER

developed by Vasiliy Poryagin

Pub Date: Jan. 5th, 2014
Publisher: Vasiliy Poryagin

This story about a little purple monster aims to demonstrate that outward appearance isn’t a good indicator of inward nature and character.

One night, a large egg magically appears on a hill in the forest. When it cracks open, Bibo—a diminutive beast that’s so ugly he’s cute—pops out and launches his mission to find some friends. A snooty squirrel snubs him, as do a mouse, a bear, a rabbit and a fox. The voluptuous fox, which frolics in slow motion atop a cake, looks like she could moonlight as a burlesque dancer. She tells Bibo that he’s not friend-worthy since he’s too fat and needs to go to the gym. The superficial vibe is clear and altogether appropriate, but the dialogue and storyline that support the implicit lesson are mostly languid and thin. On the technical side, there’s animation and interaction on most pages, but they’re of garden variety—slight animatronic character movements, featureless activity pages, and things that bob, float and squeak when tapped. Bibo meets his female monster counterpart at the end of the story, and she befriends him “because nobody wants to be friends with me” (a pronouncement that conveys that selecting a friend may be as easy as settling for whom you’re stuck with).

A shallow story about shallowness.

(iPad storybook app. 3-6)