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NED THE NEURON

Name: NED THE NEURON
Author: Erica Warp

by Erica Warp & illustrated by Andy Warner & developed by Kizoom Labs ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 9, 2012

A rangy introduction to the parts of the brain and their functions that skips or dives, your choice.

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A deep-dish serving of brain matter, but surprisingly digestible for all that.

There is no skirting around the fact that the brain is a complex instrument and that its parts are identified by words of an equally complex order: amygdala, sensory homunculus, thalamus. But Warp manages to glean the salient points while connecting the parts of the brain like so many axons. Ned is a trainee neuron who travels about the brain and the central nervous system while trying to solve a problem for his host, Sophie, who has stepped on a rock and is now in danger of having to stop doing cartwheels. This has Ned in a lather, as he loves cartwheeling. The story is rather silly and immature for the material being covered, but it does add light relief—as does the playful, Hanna-Barbera–like artwork—when confronting action potentials and hippocampi, dendrites and synapses. The app is designed to work deeply into the brain, one layer leading to the next, though readers can also skim—thus allowing for a broad range of ages and capabilities—and there is frequent opportunity to revisit brain parts and activities for refreshers, either via hot words in the text or a handy toolbar at the top of the screen. Both the story and the curricular narrators keep a light, unthreatening tone.

A rangy introduction to the parts of the brain and their functions that skips or dives, your choice. (works on iPad 2 and above) (iPad informational app. 10-14)

Pub Date: Oct. 9, 2012

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Kizoom

Review Posted Online: Dec. 2, 2012

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2012

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SEE YOU IN THE COSMOS

by Jack Cheng ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 28, 2017

Riveting, inspiring, and sometimes hilarious.

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If you made a recording to be heard by the aliens who found the iPod, what would you record?

For 11-year-old Alex Petroski, it's easy. He records everything. He records the story of how he travels to New Mexico to a rocket festival with his dog, Carl Sagan, and his rocket. He records finding out that a man with the same name and birthday as his dead father has an address in Las Vegas. He records eating at Johnny Rockets for the first time with his new friends, who are giving him a ride to find his dead father (who might not be dead!), and losing Carl Sagan in the wilds of Las Vegas, and discovering he has a half sister. He even records his own awful accident. Cheng delivers a sweet, soulful debut novel with a brilliant, refreshing structure. His characters manage to come alive through the “transcript” of Alex’s iPod recording, an odd medium that sounds like it would be confusing but really works. Taking inspiration from the Voyager Golden Record released to space in 1977, Alex, who explains he has “light brown skin,” records all the important moments of a journey that takes him from a family of two to a family of plenty.

Riveting, inspiring, and sometimes hilarious. (Fiction. 10-14)

Pub Date: Feb. 28, 2017

ISBN: 978-0-399-18637-0

Page Count: 320

Publisher: Dial Books

Review Posted Online: Oct. 18, 2016

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2016

Categories:

CHILDREN'S ANIMALS | CHILDREN'S FAMILY

- BOOK REVIEW
THE MANY MASKS OF ANDY ZHOU
by Jack Cheng ; illustrated by Jack Cheng

CAPTAIN UNDERPANTS AND THE TERRIFYING RETURN OF TIPPY TINKLETROUSERS

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CAPTAIN UNDERPANTS AND THE TERRIFYING RETURN OF TIPPY TINKLETROUSERS

From the Captain Underpants series , Vol. 9

by Dav Pilkey & illustrated by Dav Pilkey ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 28, 2012

Is this the end? Well, no…the series will stagger on through at least one more scheduled sequel.

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Sure signs that the creative wells are running dry at last, the Captain’s ninth, overstuffed outing both recycles a villain (see Book 4) and offers trendy anti-bullying wish fulfillment.

Not that there aren’t pranks and envelope-pushing quips aplenty. To start, in an alternate ending to the previous episode, Principal Krupp ends up in prison (“…a lot like being a student at Jerome Horwitz Elementary School, except that the prison had better funding”). There, he witnesses fellow inmate Tippy Tinkletrousers (aka Professor Poopypants) escape in a giant Robo-Suit (later reduced to time-traveling trousers). The villain sets off after George and Harold, who are in juvie (“not much different from our old school…except that they have library books here.”). Cut to five years previous, in a prequel to the whole series. George and Harold link up in kindergarten to reduce a quartet of vicious bullies to giggling insanity with a relentless series of pranks involving shaving cream, spiders, effeminate spoof text messages and friendship bracelets. Pilkey tucks both topical jokes and bathroom humor into the cartoon art, and ups the narrative’s lexical ante with terms like “pharmaceuticals” and “theatrical flair.” Unfortunately, the bullies’ sad fates force Krupp to resign, so he’s not around to save the Earth from being destroyed later on by Talking Toilets and other invaders…

Is this the end? Well, no…the series will stagger on through at least one more scheduled sequel. (Fantasy. 10-12)