Despite the beguiling title, give this one a miss.
Noisy, chaotic and overstuffed, this sheriff’s hunt for small-time, mostly furry criminals shoots itself in the foot.
The Wild West town of Animaland is disrupted by several bands of “Animal Antics,” a euphemism for masked bandits causing trouble. A stumpy-looking giraffe with no neck tells Silver Star the Tiger, the town’s sheriff, that he must clean up the town. For the rest of the stroll through Animaland, readers try to pick out the “Antics” from the other animals, a constant parade of monkeys, bears, pigs, lobsters and even the odd octopus. Nothing makes much sense, and even as the narration tries to unspool the story, animal noises, scattered bits of dialogue and sound effects compete for attention. Animations never rest, and little question marks pop up and blink, offering even more visual clutter. Activating the option to introduce (poorly) written text to the story turns the page into a mess with little room to breathe. All the animals, even the ones causing the town’s trouble, have identical smiles, and the sheriff, troublingly, has eyeballs that roll around in circles. There’s a nice puzzle feature, multiple languages on offer and lots of social options to contact the developers of the app, but the story itself, if readers can get past the distractions, is lengthy and uninteresting.
Despite the beguiling title, give this one a miss. (iPad storybook app. 3-7)Pub Date: Jan. 10, 2013
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: ZigZag Studio
Review Posted Online: Feb. 26, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2013
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Renata’s wren encounter proves magical, one most children could only wish to experience outside of this lovely story.
A home-renovation project is interrupted by a family of wrens, allowing a young girl an up-close glimpse of nature.
Renata and her father enjoy working on upgrading their bathroom, installing a clawfoot bathtub, and cutting a space for a new window. One warm night, after Papi leaves the window space open, two wrens begin making a nest in the bathroom. Rather than seeing it as an unfortunate delay of their project, Renata and Papi decide to let the avian carpenters continue their work. Renata witnesses the birth of four chicks as their rosy eggs split open “like coats that are suddenly too small.” Renata finds at a crucial moment that she can help the chicks learn to fly, even with the bittersweet knowledge that it will only hasten their exits from her life. Rosen uses lively language and well-chosen details to move the story of the baby birds forward. The text suggests the strong bond built by this Afro-Latinx father and daughter with their ongoing project without needing to point it out explicitly, a light touch in a picture book full of delicate, well-drawn moments and precise wording. Garoche’s drawings are impressively detailed, from the nest’s many small bits to the developing first feathers on the chicks and the wall smudges and exposed wiring of the renovation. (This book was reviewed digitally with 10-by-20-inch double-page spreads viewed at actual size.)
Renata’s wren encounter proves magical, one most children could only wish to experience outside of this lovely story. (Picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: March 16, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-593-12320-1
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Schwartz & Wade/Random
Review Posted Online: Jan. 12, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2021
A wandering effort, happy but pointless.
The perfect book for kids who love dragons and mild tacos.
Rubin’s story starts with an incantatory edge: “Hey, kid! Did you know that dragons love tacos? They love beef tacos and chicken tacos. They love really big gigantic tacos and tiny little baby tacos as well.” The playing field is set: dragons, tacos. As a pairing, they are fairly silly, and when the kicker comes in—that dragons hate spicy salsa, which ignites their inner fireworks—the silliness is sillier still. Second nature, after all, is for dragons to blow flames out their noses. So when the kid throws a taco party for the dragons, it seems a weak device that the clearly labeled “totally mild” salsa comes with spicy jalapenos in the fine print, prompting the dragons to burn down the house, resulting in a barn-raising at which more tacos are served. Harmless, but if there is a parable hidden in the dragon-taco tale, it is hidden in the unlit deep, and as a measure of lunacy, bridled or unbridled, it doesn’t make the leap into the outer reaches of imagination. Salmieri’s artwork is fitting, with a crabbed, ethereal line work reminiscent of Peter Sís, but the story does not offer it enough range.
A wandering effort, happy but pointless. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: June 14, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-8037-3680-1
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: March 27, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2012
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