Avast! Young mateys not ready for the original will get an eyeful, an earful and a taste of the timeless pirate adventure...
A rousing abridgment of the classic tale is buoyed by atmospheric sound effects and hearty digital surprises.
Though not all of the 91 screens feature interactive effects, each is illustrated. These are usually multilayered and shadowy, and all are unfailingly evocative of the violent events, exotic locales and dramatic highlights young Jim describes in the overlaid narrative. Automated animations include moving strips of scenery and eerie fade-ins, among others. The frequent touch-activated features (each of which is cued by an inconspicuous icon) are an unusually diverse mix: Sliders cause figures to rise or fog to clear, spinners focus a spyglass or spin a skeleton around a compass rose, cannon fire with a tap. Three-dimensional looks are achieved with moveable scenes viewed through a window. The background audio is similarly varied, switching from a hornpipe to a melodramatic orchestral blare with a turn of the page or presenting a medley of creaking timbers, seagull cries, crashing waves and low muttering. A tap at any page’s bottom brings up buttons to turn the sound off, check a glossary or open a “Contents” strip of page-by-page thumbnails.
Avast! Young mateys not ready for the original will get an eyeful, an earful and a taste of the timeless pirate adventure that awaits. (iPad storybook app. 8-11)Pub Date: Nov. 24, 2010
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: Cyberia Media
Review Posted Online: May 9, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2011
Dizzyingly silly.
The famous superhero returns to fight another villain with all the trademark wit and humor the series is known for.
Despite the title, Captain Underpants is bizarrely absent from most of this adventure. His school-age companions, George and Harold, maintain most of the spotlight. The creative chums fool around with time travel and several wacky inventions before coming upon the evil Turbo Toilet 2000, making its return for vengeance after sitting out a few of the previous books. When the good Captain shows up to save the day, he brings with him dynamic action and wordplay that meet the series’ standards. The Captain Underpants saga maintains its charm even into this, the 11th volume. The epic is filled to the brim with sight gags, toilet humor, flip-o-ramas and anarchic glee. Holding all this nonsense together is the author’s good-natured sense of harmless fun. The humor is never gross or over-the-top, just loud and innocuous. Adults may roll their eyes here and there, but youngsters will eat this up just as quickly as they devoured every other Underpants episode.
Dizzyingly silly. (Humor. 8-10)Pub Date: Aug. 26, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-545-50490-4
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: June 3, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2014
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File under “laugh riot.”
A rogue spell-check program’s bid to transform all life-forms into that eminently useful office item, the paper clip, touches off a fresh round of lunar lunacy.
Predicated on the entirely reasonable premise that eliminating all spelling and grammar errors everywhere would logically lead to the necessity of exterminating carbon-based life in the universe, this third series entry combines high stakes with daffy banter and daring exploits. CheckMate—a chipper, jumped-up editing program—has invented the Transmogratron, a giant laser that will fulfill its ultimate goals in both the cyber world and “meatspace.” Facing challenges as random as prankster lunar unicorns and a disarmingly motherly Motherboard, scowling First Cat joins a motley crew of diversely carbon- and silicon-based allies, led by the pearlescent Queen of the Moon. They’re in a race to the finish—diverted occasionally by, for instance, a relentlessly punny comic-book interlude featuring a pair of literal and figurative Pool Sharks. They ultimately triumph thanks to teamwork and moxie. Following a celebratory party and toasts to “new friends…and steadfast comrades” (and, of course, “MEOW”), the story’s energetic, brightly colored panels close with a reveal of the next volume. (“I always hate it when comics end by announcing a sequel. SO CRINGE!” declares an authorial stand-in.) It can’t come too soon.
File under “laugh riot.” (Graphic science fiction. 8-11)Pub Date: Nov. 5, 2024
ISBN: 9780063315280
Page Count: 272
Publisher: HarperAlley
Review Posted Online: Sept. 14, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
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