Though not exactly a traditional singalong, readers will nevertheless find themselves ch-ch-ch-ing like a katydid and...
Tree crickets ring like telephones high in the trees, and mole crickets call “dirt, dirt” from their tunnels in the ground, taking animal sounds far from the familiar moo and meow.
Accurately recorded insect sounds accompany the detailed illustrations and reveal the critters behind many familiar noises of summer. Where the 2013 printed book of the same name that this was taken from simply provided onomatopoeic spellings of each sound—“chirp,” “reeeeeeeeeee,” “squeaka”—this app gives kids the sonic specifics they hunger for, providing a value-added experience. Readers will enjoy identifying these bug songs in their own backyards. Kid-friendly, additional information about each species appears in a section called “Bug Sounds.” What budding lepidopterist won’t be excited to learn that tiger moths make ultrasonic squeaks to scare bats away or that insects use their bodies rather than vocal cords to make sounds? There’s one screen per bug, and on each one, there is a very cool, interactive sound wave graph and an explanation of each sound’s purpose. Given the high quality of the insect recordings, though, it’s too bad the narrator sounds like he recorded his track in a cave.
Though not exactly a traditional singalong, readers will nevertheless find themselves ch-ch-ch-ing like a katydid and perhaps even joining in with the “Concert of Sound” when all the bugs sing together. (iPad informational app. 3-8)Pub Date: June 4, 2013
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: Dawn Publications
Review Posted Online: July 16, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2013
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Cookie-cutter predictability.
After all the daring escapes in the How To Catch… series, will the kids be able to catch Santa?
Oddly, previous installments saw the children trying (and failing) to catch an elf and a reindeer, but both are easily captured in this story. Santa, however, is slippery. Tempted but not fooled by poinsettias, a good book (attached to a slingshot armed with a teddy bear projectile), and, of course, milk and cookies, Santa foils every plan. The hero in a red suit has a job to do. Presents must be placed, and lists must be checked. He has no time for traps and foolery (except if you’re the elf, who falls for every one of them). Luckily, Santa helps the little rascal escape each time. Little is new here—the kids resort to similar snares found in previous works: netting, lures, and technological wonders such as the Santa Catcher 5000. Although the rhythm falters quite a bit (“How did we get out you ask? / It looked like we were done for. / Santa’s magic is very real, / and I cannot reveal more”), fans of the series may not mind. Santa and Christmas just might be enough to overcome the flaws. Santa and the elf are light-skinned, one of the children is brown-skinned, and the other presents as Asian. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Cookie-cutter predictability. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2023
ISBN: 9781728274270
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Sourcebooks Wonderland
Review Posted Online: Aug. 15, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Continuing to find inspiration in the work of Virginia Lee Burton, Munro Leaf and other illustrators of the past, Long (The Little Engine That Could, 2005) offers an aw-shucks friendship tale that features a small but hardworking tractor (“putt puff puttedy chuff”) with a Little Toot–style face and a big-eared young descendant of Ferdinand the bull who gets stuck in deep, gooey mud. After the big new yellow tractor, crowds of overalls-clad locals and a red fire engine all fail to pull her out, the little tractor (who had been left behind the barn to rust after the arrival of the new tractor) comes putt-puff-puttedy-chuff-ing down the hill to entice his terrified bovine buddy successfully back to dry ground. Short on internal logic but long on creamy scenes of calf and tractor either gamboling energetically with a gaggle of McCloskey-like geese through neutral-toned fields or resting peacefully in the shade of a gnarled tree (apple, not cork), the episode will certainly draw nostalgic adults. Considering the author’s track record and influences, it may find a welcome from younger audiences too. (Picture book. 5-8)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2009
ISBN: 978-0-399-25248-8
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Philomel
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2009
SEEN & HEARD
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