The entertaining song at the core of this picture-book app is poorly served by unsophisticated effects and uninspiring animation.
This app is based on a picture book that is in turn based on a song by Andy Z, a children’s musician with several recordings to his name. Scarecrow ventures out each night to run in the cornfields, leaving the farmer puzzled as to why his clothes are tattered in the morning. The Scarecrow song is catchy, and the two-voice harmony accompanied by guitar is very enjoyable. However, the muddy colors of the Scarecrow are discordant with his playful expressions and jar with the pastel greens, blues and purples of the background. The animation is uninspired and simplistic, with Scarecrow moving awkwardly through the cornfields. The expressive crows are probably the best element of the graphics and animation. The challenge to creating an app based on a song is apparent here. Any interactive opportunities for the viewer in the “sing-to-me” mode would interfere with the flow of the song, so the creators wisely don’t put any in. Even in the "read-by myself" mode, however, there is only one rudimentary interactive element per page, doing little to enhance the experience. Navigation works fine, with a forward, backward and home button on every page. Meager enhancements and amateurish animation mar this effort. (iPad storybook/song app. 2-6)
Pub Date: Oct. 11, 2011
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: Think Active
Review Posted Online: Dec. 12, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2012
A hymn to the intrinsic loveliness of the wild and the possibility of sharing it.
What happens when a robot washes up alone on an island?
“Everything was just right on the island.” Brown beautifully re-creates the first days of Roz, the protagonist of his Wild Robot novels, as she adapts to living in the natural world. A storm-tossed ship, seen in the opening just before the title page, and a packing crate are the only other human-made objects to appear in this close-up look at the robot and her new home. Roz emerges from the crate, and her first thought as she sets off up a grassy hill—”This must be where I belong”—is sweetly glorious, a note of recognition rather than conquest. Roz learns to move, hide, and communicate like the creatures she meets. When she discovers an orphaned egg—and the gosling Brightbill, who eventually hatches—her decision to be his mother seems a natural extension of her adaptation. Once he flies south for the winter, her quiet wait across seasons for his return is a poignant portrayal of separation and change. Brown’s clean, precise lines and deep, light-filled colors offer a sense of what Roz might be seeing, suggesting a place that is alive yet deeply serene and radiant. Though the book stands alone, it adds an immensely appealing dimension to Roz’s world. Round thumbnails offer charming peeks into the island world, depicting Roz’s animal neighbors and Brightbill’s maturation.
A hymn to the intrinsic loveliness of the wild and the possibility of sharing it. (author’s note) (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: June 24, 2025
ISBN: 9780316669467
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: March 22, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2025
Little Blue’s fans will enjoy the animal sounds and counting opportunities, but it’s the sparkling lights on the truck’s own...
The sturdy Little Blue Truck is back for his third adventure, this time delivering Christmas trees to his band of animal pals.
The truck is decked out for the season with a Christmas wreath that suggests a nose between headlights acting as eyeballs. Little Blue loads up with trees at Toad’s Trees, where five trees are marked with numbered tags. These five trees are counted and arithmetically manipulated in various ways throughout the rhyming story as they are dropped off one by one to Little Blue’s friends. The final tree is reserved for the truck’s own use at his garage home, where he is welcomed back by the tree salestoad in a neatly circular fashion. The last tree is already decorated, and Little Blue gets a surprise along with readers, as tiny lights embedded in the illustrations sparkle for a few seconds when the last page is turned. Though it’s a gimmick, it’s a pleasant surprise, and it fits with the retro atmosphere of the snowy country scenes. The short, rhyming text is accented with colored highlights, red for the animal sounds and bright green for the numerical words in the Christmas-tree countdown.
Little Blue’s fans will enjoy the animal sounds and counting opportunities, but it’s the sparkling lights on the truck’s own tree that will put a twinkle in a toddler’s eyes. (Picture book. 2-5)Pub Date: Sept. 23, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-544-32041-3
Page Count: 24
Publisher: HMH Books
Review Posted Online: Aug. 11, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2014
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