A short set of visual puzzles, closer in overall complexity to Richard Scarry than Where’s Waldo.
A pioneer of the “busy, busy crowd scene” style of illustration slips into the digital domain with tablet versions of several classic titles—including this low-key but involving example.
Viewers can zoom in and pan around seven screens, each an angled aerial view of several dozen active people in an airport, zoo, swimming pool, city intersection or other town setting. There is no animation, but along with quiet crowd and traffic background noises, many figures will respond to taps with exclamations, giggles or other sounds. These are signaled, strangely, by a flurry of visible musical notes, though except for a busker in one scene, there is no music. As an ongoing test of visual memory, children can collect stars by using a feature that opens a set of albums on each screen with “snapshots” of fine details in the larger scenes to spot and capture with a roving “camera.” Signs on shops and elsewhere change according to which of the five European languages is selected at the beginning, but in a translator’s bobble, one scene is titled “On the Market” in English. Less fixable are the antique cassette-tape players, on-shoulder video cameras and other period details in the art. Still, Mitgutsch’s cartoon figures are clear and sharply focused at any magnification and their jobs or activities easy to follow.
A short set of visual puzzles, closer in overall complexity to Richard Scarry than Where’s Waldo. (iPad seek-and-find app. 3-5)Pub Date: Oct. 11, 2012
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: Ravensburger Digital
Review Posted Online: Nov. 30, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2012
BOOK REVIEW
A successful swap from coconut tree to Christmas tree.
A Christmas edition of the beloved alphabet book.
The story starts off nearly identically to Chicka Chicka Boom Boom (1989), written by John Archambault and the late Bill Martin Jr, with the letters A, B, and C deciding to meet in the branches of a tree. This time, they’re attempting to scale a Christmas tree, not a coconut tree, and the letters are strung together like garland. A, B, and C are joined by the other letters, and of course they all “slip, slop, topple, plop!” right down the tree. At the bottom, they discover an assortment of gifts, all in a variety of shapes. As a team, the letters and presents organize themselves to get back up on the Christmas tree and get a star to the top. Holiday iterations of favorite tales often fall flat, but this take succeeds. The gifts are an easy way to reinforce another preschool concept—shapes—and the text uses just enough of the original to be familiar. The rhyming works, sticking to the cadence of the source material. The illustrations pay homage to the late Lois Ehlert’s, featuring the same bold block letters, though they lack some of the whimsy and personality of the original. Otherwise, everything is similarly brightly colored and simply drawn. Those familiar with the classic will be drawn to this one, but newcomers can enjoy it on its own.
A successful swap from coconut tree to Christmas tree. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2024
ISBN: 9781665954761
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Beach Lane/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: July 4, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2024
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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