by Wang Meijan ; illustrated by Gan Gan ; developed by Wawa Mouse ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 12, 2013
The moral at the end drops more heavily than the rocks into the pot, but that doesn’t spoil the tale’s ever-nutritious theme.
A sweet version of the classic story features a trio of traveling bunnies and much tap-activated bouncing and giggling.
The text is just a bit too long to fit into single views on each screen, and there are a few rough patches, translationwise (“When spring came, three rabbits went on a journey to afar in the bright sunshine of springtime”). Nevertheless, the tale runs along smoothly whether read aloud with careful deliberation by several high-pitched narrators or in “Read Myself” mode. The wide-eyed, all-animal cartoon cast blinks on its own but wiggles and twitches back and forth with, usually, an electronic boop or other sound effect when touched; on one screen, multiple taps not only turn day into night before the climactic feast, but convey the delicious soup’s aroma with brilliant displays of multicolored stars and fireworks. The page advance is only manual, which allows readers to control the pacing, and an inconspicuous gear icon on every screen allows access to a page index and replay button, as well as sound and (English/Chinese) language switches, plus the now-standard quick access to various social media.
The moral at the end drops more heavily than the rocks into the pot, but that doesn’t spoil the tale’s ever-nutritious theme. (iPad storybook app. 5-9)Pub Date: Jan. 12, 2013
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: Wawa Mouse
Review Posted Online: March 5, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2013
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by Loren Long & illustrated by Loren Long ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 1, 2009
Continuing to find inspiration in the work of Virginia Lee Burton, Munro Leaf and other illustrators of the past, Long (The Little Engine That Could, 2005) offers an aw-shucks friendship tale that features a small but hardworking tractor (“putt puff puttedy chuff”) with a Little Toot–style face and a big-eared young descendant of Ferdinand the bull who gets stuck in deep, gooey mud. After the big new yellow tractor, crowds of overalls-clad locals and a red fire engine all fail to pull her out, the little tractor (who had been left behind the barn to rust after the arrival of the new tractor) comes putt-puff-puttedy-chuff-ing down the hill to entice his terrified bovine buddy successfully back to dry ground. Short on internal logic but long on creamy scenes of calf and tractor either gamboling energetically with a gaggle of McCloskey-like geese through neutral-toned fields or resting peacefully in the shade of a gnarled tree (apple, not cork), the episode will certainly draw nostalgic adults. Considering the author’s track record and influences, it may find a welcome from younger audiences too. (Picture book. 5-8)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2009
ISBN: 978-0-399-25248-8
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Philomel
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2009
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SEEN & HEARD
by Pete Seeger & Paul Dubois Jacobs & illustrated by Michael Hays ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 1, 2001
The seemingly ageless Seeger brings back his renowned giant for another go in a tuneful tale that, like the art, is a bit sketchy, but chockful of worthy messages. Faced with yearly floods and droughts since they’ve cut down all their trees, the townsfolk decide to build a dam—but the project is stymied by a boulder that is too huge to move. Call on Abiyoyo, suggests the granddaughter of the man with the magic wand, then just “Zoop Zoop” him away again. But the rock that Abiyoyo obligingly flings aside smashes the wand. How to avoid Abiyoyo’s destruction now? Sing the monster to sleep, then make it a peaceful, tree-planting member of the community, of course. Seeger sums it up in a postscript: “every community must learn to manage its giants.” Hays, who illustrated the original (1986), creates colorful, if unfinished-looking, scenes featuring a notably multicultural human cast and a towering Cubist fantasy of a giant. The song, based on a Xhosa lullaby, still has that hard-to-resist sing-along potential, and the themes of waging peace, collective action, and the benefits of sound ecological practices are presented in ways that children will both appreciate and enjoy. (Picture book. 5-9)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-689-83271-0
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2001
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