See the movie; skip the book. Here’s hoping the next silver-screen adaptation gets the effort it deserves.
A spawn of the critically acclaimed 2011 holiday film.
Having spent millions on the development and production of blockbuster CGI films, it’s a no-brainer to put that investment to good use by licensing as many products as possible—especially when the movie strikes box-office gold. This app will undoubtedly ride the lucrative coattails of its 3-D, animated progenitor, but it doesn’t add much of anything to the experience. On Christmas Eve, one toy accidentally doesn’t get delivered, and Arthur is the only one in the Claus family who truly cares about the present-less kid. The story chronicles his all-out attempt to include little Gwen in Santa’s munificence, and in the process he becomes the story’s hero. All 40 pages are adorned with crisp 3-D computer illustrations from the movie—and they are stunning. Readers can briefly animate a few scenes using a scrollbar that provides fleeting moments of interaction and movement. Beyond that, the app is a collection of screenshots accompanied by a run-of-the-mill narrative adapted from the story line of the film. The “bonus features”—which include a “wrap the bike” activity that takes all of five seconds and a “lull the lions” game that’s nothing more than a duplicated page from the story—are astonishingly meager and slapdash.
See the movie; skip the book. Here’s hoping the next silver-screen adaptation gets the effort it deserves. (iPad storybook app. 4-9)Pub Date: Nov. 30, 2011
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: zuuka
Review Posted Online: Dec. 15, 2011
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
SEEN & HEARD
Pete’s fans might find it groovy; anyone else has plenty of other “12 Days of Christmas” variants to choose among
Pete, the cat who couldn’t care less, celebrates Christmas with his inimitable lassitude.
If it weren’t part of the title and repeated on every other page, readers unfamiliar with Pete’s shtick might have a hard time arriving at “groovy” to describe his Christmas celebration, as the expressionless cat displays not a hint of groove in Dean’s now-trademark illustrations. Nor does Pete have a great sense of scansion: “On the first day of Christmas, / Pete gave to me… / A road trip to the sea. / GROOVY!” The cat is shown at the wheel of a yellow microbus strung with garland and lights and with a star-topped tree tied to its roof. On the second day of Christmas Pete gives “me” (here depicted as a gray squirrel who gets on the bus) “2 fuzzy gloves, and a road trip to the sea. / GROOVY!” On the third day, he gives “me” (now a white cat who joins Pete and the squirrel) “3 yummy cupcakes,” etc. The “me” mentioned in the lyrics changes from day to day and gift to gift, with “4 far-out surfboards” (a frog), “5 onion rings” (crocodile), and “6 skateboards rolling” (a yellow bird that shares its skateboards with the white cat, the squirrel, the frog, and the crocodile while Pete drives on). Gifts and animals pile on until the microbus finally arrives at the seaside and readers are told yet again that it’s all “GROOVY!”
Pete’s fans might find it groovy; anyone else has plenty of other “12 Days of Christmas” variants to choose among . (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Sept. 18, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-06-267527-9
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Aug. 19, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2018
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