Unfortunately, the worthy message is overshadowed by its single-minded, intense delivery, which feels more like propaganda...
A heavy-handed allegorical tale about consumerism, fair trade and social conscience.
Gluttonous and hedonistic Princess Occidiane is fat, selfish, demanding and completely unaware of what her piggishness costs others. Eventually, her appetite devours most of the planet’s resources, which wreaks serious economic and environmental havoc. What to do? A page appears with three “buttons,” which each leads to a different solution—and thus there’s a trio of different endings to the story. All three outcomes offer some scathing social commentary. It appears that Occidiane represents the ugly face of Western consumerism, things like entitlement, greed, oppression and ecological irresponsibility. Fair enough. But the story fails to offer anything but binary characters—perpetrator/victim, entitled/disadvantaged, consumers/laborers—and as such, it comes across as didactic and reductionist, even disparaging. Interactive features are plentiful but simple. Certain words or phrases function as “hyperlinks” that animate and/or advance the story, and some of the lovely illustrations also produce additional images when tapped. The magical background music—Saint Saëns’ “The Aquarium”—can be switched on or off, but narration (in French or English) is a page-by-page decision. This storybook app is technologically solid, and it brings up some important issues that kids would do well to contemplate and discuss as they develop social consciences.
Unfortunately, the worthy message is overshadowed by its single-minded, intense delivery, which feels more like propaganda than storytelling. (iPad storybook app. 6-10)Pub Date: Sept. 9, 2012
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: La Souris Qui Raconte
Review Posted Online: Oct. 9, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2012
Will and his little brother Steve face third grade and kindergarten in this over-the-top chapter book in the venerable Step-Into-Reading series for new readers. Will knows that going to the same school as his brother is going to be a challenge, but he does not know how much of a challenge it will be. From the moment Will has to hold Steve’s hand and take him to kindergarten, everything that can go wrong does. Whether Steve is slamming all the lockers, making faces through the third-grade window or starting a food fight in the cafeteria, he’s embarrassing his older brother. Expressive and stylized color illustrations add to the exaggerated plot lines. A comfortable, predictable ending on the bench outside of the principal’s office will make new readers everywhere smile with recognition. No one will mistake this for a lesson book about back to school, but new readers will find many reasons to laugh out loud with Will and Steve. (Fiction. 6-9)
Pub Date: July 10, 2007
ISBN: 978-0-375-83904-7
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2007
More trampling in the vineyards of the Literary Classics section, with results that will tickle fancies high and low.
Recasting Dog Man and his feline ward, Li’l Petey, as costumed superheroes, Pilkey looks East of Eden in this follow-up to Tale of Two Kitties (2017).
The Steinbeck novel’s Cain/Abel motif gets some play here, as Petey, “world’s evilest cat” and cloned Li’l Petey’s original, tries assiduously to tempt his angelic counterpart over to the dark side only to be met, ultimately at least, by Li’l Petey’s “Thou mayest.” (There are also occasional direct quotes from the novel.) But inner struggles between good and evil assume distinctly subordinate roles to riotous outer ones, as Petey repurposes robots built for a movie about the exploits of Dog Man—“the thinking man’s Rin Tin Tin”—while leading a general rush to the studio’s costume department for appropriate good guy/bad guy outfits in preparation for the climactic battle. During said battle and along the way Pilkey tucks in multiple Flip-O-Rama inserts as well as general gags. He lists no fewer than nine ways to ask “who cut the cheese?” and includes both punny chapter titles (“The Bark Knight Rises”) and nods to Hamiltonand Mary Poppins. The cartoon art, neatly and brightly colored by Garibaldi, is both as easy to read as the snappy dialogue and properly endowed with outsized sound effects, figures displaying a range of skin colors, and glimpses of underwear (even on robots).
More trampling in the vineyards of the Literary Classics section, with results that will tickle fancies high and low. (drawing instructions) (Graphic fantasy. 7-10)Pub Date: Dec. 26, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-545-93518-0
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Graphix/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: May 13, 2018
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
