A solid technical effort that suffers from a severely shorn narrative.
Like the sheep featured in it, this app may not seem quite so appealing if it were stripped of its fluffy, soft surface.
Ben the Tractor, a cheery, grinning red tractor, is tasked by Johnny the Farmer with collecting the sheep around the farm and bringing them back to the corral. Amid ducklings, cows and a horse, Ben seeks out the errant sheep, loads them onto his trailer (with the help of a reader's fingers), then unloads them back near the farm. And... that's about the extent of a less-than-thrilling day on the farm. While the app is pretty solid in nearly every area, from its goofy, cartoony animal animations and sounds to its intuitive, easy-to-navigate interface, it doesn't have much of a story or personality. Ben himself doesn't speak or do much more than chug and smile through uninspired text like, "The Tractor was very happy and was going back to the farm." The app also features a collection of digital jigsaw puzzles built from the story pages, but the fun of the puzzles isn't enhanced much by the forgettable farm fiction. And finishing the tale requires finding all the sheep, thus completing Ben's chores. Miss a sheep, and frustrated young readers won't get to "The End" without some backtracking. It's a shame, too, because the clearly labeled menu buttons, whimsical illustrations and solid narration could have gone somewhere.
A solid technical effort that suffers from a severely shorn narrative. (iPad storybook app. 2-6)Pub Date: March 19, 2011
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: ZigZag Studio
Review Posted Online: May 9, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
A disappointing follow-up.
Inventor Izzy Gizmo is back in this sequel to her eponymous debut (2017).
While busily inventing one day, Izzy receives an invitation from the Genius Guild to their annual convention. Though Izzy’s “inventions…don’t always work,” Grandpa (apparently her sole caregiver) encourages her to go. The next day they undertake a long journey “over fields, hills, and waves” and “mile after mile” to isolated Technoff Isle. There, Izzy finds she must compete against four other kids to create the most impressive machine. The colorful, detail-rich illustrations chronicle how poor Izzy is thwarted at every turn by Abi von Lavish, a Veruca Salt–esque character who takes all the supplies for herself. But when Abi abandons her project, Izzy salvages the pieces and decides to take Grandpa’s advice to create a machine that “can really be put to good use.” A frustrated Izzy’s impatience with a friend almost foils her chance at the prize, but all’s well that ends well. There’s much to like: Brown-skinned inventor girl Izzy is an appealing character, it’s great to see a nurturing brown-skinned male caregiver, the idea of an “Invention Convention” is fun, and a sustainable-energy invention is laudable. However, these elements don’t make up for rhymes that often feel forced and a lackluster story.
A disappointing follow-up. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: March 1, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-68263-164-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Peachtree
Review Posted Online: Jan. 11, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2020
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