Bonus content aplenty, but first-time readers will be better off with either the print or the unadorned e-book version.
Digital distractions—many of them tangential, at best, to the story—have been positively shoveled into this “multi-touch edition” of Britain’s 2013 Carnegie Medal winner.
The actual story is set in an alternate Britain under the boot of an authoritarian Motherland and narrated by Standish, a bullied, dyslexic teenager who exposes a much-ballyhooed moon landing as a hoax. Adjustable of font size and also presenting different views in portrait and landscape orientation, the enhanced e-book is festooned with dozens of thumbnail images and icons in the margins. Tapping these activates extras that include video clips of the author vaunting her own dyslexia (“the greatest gift you’ve ever been given”), her troubles at school or a nearly 10-minute inspirational “speech for losers.” There are also dramatically read snippets from the text, writing prompts, review quizzes, original video shorts, and slide shows on topics such as recent civil wars or outbreaks of genocide. Photos of historical documents and skeletal constructs representing a sinister “leather coat man” mingle with Crouch’s original line drawings (presented separately here and also as a disturbing stop-motion animation) of a dead rat filling up with maggots. All of this added material, interesting as it may be, makes it nigh impossible either to follow the already-chronologically-jumbled plotline or to be caught up for more than a few moments at a time in Standish’s mordant, often lyrical narrative.
Bonus content aplenty, but first-time readers will be better off with either the print or the unadorned e-book version. (afterword, with links and more imbedded video) (Enhanced e-book/science fiction. 12-15)Pub Date: Aug. 13, 2013
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: Oct. 1, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2013
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
The poster boy for relentless mischief-makers everywhere, first encountered in No, David! (1998), gives his weary mother a rest by going to school. Naturally, he’s tardy, and that’s but the first in a long string of offenses—“Sit down, David! Keep your hands to yourself! PAY ATTENTION!”—that culminates in an afterschool stint. Children will, of course, recognize every line of the text and every one of David’s moves, and although he doesn’t exhibit the larger- than-life quality that made him a tall-tale anti-hero in his first appearance, his round-headed, gap-toothed enthusiasm is still endearing. For all his disruptive behavior, he shows not a trace of malice, and it’ll be easy for readers to want to encourage his further exploits. (Picture book. 5-7)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-590-48087-1
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 1999
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
In a snowbound Swiss village, Matti figures it’s a good day to make a gingerbread man. He and his mother mix a batch of gingerbread and tuck it in the oven, but Matti is too impatient to wait ten minutes without peeking. When he opens the door, out pops a gingerbread baby, taunting the familiar refrain, “Catch me if you can.” The brash imp races all over the village, teasing animals and tweaking the noses of the citizenry, until there is a fair crowd on his heels intent on giving him a drubbing. Always he remains just out of reach as he races over the winterscape, beautifully rendered with elegant countryside and architectural details by Brett. All the while, Matti is busy back home, building a gingerbread house to entice the nervy cookie to safe harbor. It works, too, and Matti is able to spirit the gingerbread baby away from the mob. The mischief-maker may be a brat, but the gingerbread cookie is also the agent of good cheer, and Brett allows that spirit to run free on these pages. (Picture book. 4-8)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-399-23444-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 1999
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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