This agreeably didactic tale clearly makes the point; it might be most useful as an introductive resource for classroom...
A boy reluctantly joins his friends outside for some competitive sports when his fascination with video games is unexpectedly interrupted after his device stops functioning.
Unfazed by invitations from friends to play outside, this slightly heavyset, glassy-eyed gamer is consumed with desire to reach each new level as he scores more and more points, munching candy and snack foods as he does. Only when the game player breaks can David even consider listening to his companions and go outside. He finally agrees to learn how to skateboard, play basketball and ride a dirt bike, taking the healthy foods his friends offer when he realizes he’s left his junk food at home. The importance of outdoor play that encourages physical movement with a dose of socialization comes through clearly. It is told through a first-person bilingual narrative complemented by clean, sleek digital-style cartoon art. As the boy’s rounded, sedentary look slims to a leaner, more engaged physique, readers see the value of exercise. David understands this improvement through the lens of a video game: At first, he’s on “Level 1 of skateboarding,” but pretty soon he moves up to Level 12.
This agreeably didactic tale clearly makes the point; it might be most useful as an introductive resource for classroom discussion followed by active participation. (Picture book. 6-9)Pub Date: Nov. 30, 2012
ISBN: 978-1-55885-747-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Piñata Books/Arte Público
Review Posted Online: Sept. 25, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2012
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Fans both young and formerly young will be pleased—100 percent.
Published in magazines, never seen since / Now resurrected for pleasure intense / Versified episodes numbering four / Featuring Marco, and Horton and more!
All of the entries in this follow-up to The Bippolo Seed and Other Lost Stories (2011) involve a certain amount of sharp dealing. Horton carries a Kwuggerbug through crocodile-infested waters and up a steep mountain because “a deal is a deal”—and then is cheated out of his promised share of delicious Beezlenuts. Officer Pat heads off escalating, imagined disasters on Mulberry Street by clubbing a pesky gnat. Marco (originally met on that same Mulberry Street) concocts a baroque excuse for being late to school. In the closer, a smooth-talking Grinch (not the green sort) sells a gullible Hoobub a piece of string. In a lively introduction, uber-fan Charles D. Cohen (The Seuss, The Whole Seuss, and Nothing but the Seuss, 2002) provides publishing histories, places characters and settings in Seussian context, and offers insights into, for instance, the origin of “Grinch.” Along with predictably engaging wordplay—“He climbed. He grew dizzy. His ankles grew numb. / But he climbed and he climbed and he clum and he clum”—each tale features bright, crisply reproduced renditions of its original illustrations. Except for “The Hoobub and the Grinch,” which has been jammed into a single spread, the verses and pictures are laid out in spacious, visually appealing ways.
Fans both young and formerly young will be pleased—100 percent. (Picture book. 6-9)Pub Date: Sept. 9, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-385-38298-4
Page Count: 56
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: June 3, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2014
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
There’s lots to see and do in this big city.
A set of panoramic views of the urban environment: inside and out, above and belowground, at street level and high overhead.
Thanks to many flaps, pull tabs, spinners, and sliders, viewers can take peeks into stores and apartments, see foliage change through the seasons in a park, operate elevators, make buildings rise and come down, visit museums and municipal offices, take in a film, join a children’s parade, marvel as Christmas decorations go up—even look in on a wedding and a funeral. Balicevic populates each elevated cartoon view with dozens of tiny but individualized residents diverse in age, skin tone, hair color and style, dress, and occupation. He also adds such contemporary touches as an electrical charging station for cars, surveillance cameras, smartphones, and fiber optic cables. Moreover, many flaps conceal diagrammatic views of infrastructure elements like water treatment facilities and sources of electrical power or how products ranging from plate glass and paper to bread, cheese, and T-shirts are manufactured (realistically, none of the workers in the last are white). Baumann’s commentary is largely dispensable, but she does worthily observe on the big final pop-up spread that cities are always changing—often, nowadays, becoming more environmentally friendly.
There’s lots to see and do in this big city. (Informational novelty. 6-9)Pub Date: April 4, 2017
ISBN: 979-1-02760-079-3
Page Count: 22
Publisher: Twirl/Chronicle
Review Posted Online: May 30, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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