Keep plugging, follow your muse, find your right fit in the world. Fine sentiments, though they might need a little more...
Arnold’s story app of a cow trying to find her calling is minimalist in every way, except some handsome artwork from Manders.
Lily, a bit of a freethinking, free-hoofing bovine living on a farm in Wisconsin, has an inkling that her hooves were made for more than support in the milking stall. Soon it will be her turn to take her Grandmoo’s place as the “bell cow,” the leader of the herd, but where Lily goes, chaos reigns. Surely, somewhere in the world, there is a place for a dancing bell cow. So off she ambles, in search of her calling. As Lily makes her world tour, Manders provides good scenic backdrops, but Lily is a klutz. Whatever she tries, she gives up right away. Until, that is, the conga crosses her path, a basic step-and-thrust with which even the most challenged cow can find the rhythm. For all the gumption Lily shows in taking to the wide-open road from her little farm in Wisconsin, it’s too bad she’s such a milquetoast when confronted with the flamenco, the tap dance or even the Senegalese stilt dance. The translation from Arnold’s 2004 traditional book to interactive app adds little beyond rudimentary animations and sound effects. A puzzle game offers three levels of difficulty.
Keep plugging, follow your muse, find your right fit in the world. Fine sentiments, though they might need a little more nerve than Lily is willing to give. (iPad storybook app. 5-8)Pub Date: Jan. 15, 2013
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: Fat Red Couch
Review Posted Online: March 19, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2013
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
Only for dedicated fans of the series.
When a kid gets the part of the ninja master in the school play, it finally seems to be the right time to tackle the closet monster.
“I spot my monster right away. / He’s practicing his ROAR. / He almost scares me half to death, / but I won’t be scared anymore!” The monster is a large, fluffy poison-green beast with blue hands and feet and face and a fluffy blue-and-green–striped tail. The kid employs a “bag of tricks” to try to catch the monster: in it are a giant wind-up shark, two cans of silly string, and an elaborate cage-and-robot trap. This last works, but with an unexpected result: the monster looks sad. Turns out he was only scaring the boy to wake him up so they could be friends. The monster greets the boy in the usual monster way: he “rips a massive FART!!” that smells like strawberries and lime, and then they go to the monster’s house to meet his parents and play. The final two spreads show the duo getting ready for bed, which is a rather anticlimactic end to what has otherwise been a rambunctious tale. Elkerton’s bright illustrations have a TV-cartoon aesthetic, and his playful beast is never scary. The narrator is depicted with black eyes and hair and pale skin. Wallace’s limping verses are uninspired at best, and the scansion and meter are frequently off.
Only for dedicated fans of the series. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4926-4894-9
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Sourcebooks Jabberwocky
Review Posted Online: July 14, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2017
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