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THE SHOEMAKER AND THE ELVES

Name: THE SHOEMAKER AND THE ELVES
Author: The Brothers Grimm

AN INTERACTIVE CHILDREN'S BOOK

by The Brothers Grimm & developed by TabTale ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 13, 2011

With the thumbnail page scroll and the ability to turn wooden text and narrative off, kids can easily navigate and enjoy...

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This classic tale of karma, retold in rigid rhyme and re-tooled with a different moral than the original, will enchant more with its activities than with its storytelling.

While there is passing mention of his generosity on the first page, the Grimms' humble shoemaker who shared his good fortune with those less fortunate is nowhere to be found here among the musical shoes and creaky shelves. This shoemaker sells his shoes "for a lot of cash" and says, "if I work hard...I will be rich"—even though it is clear that he's not the one who is making the shoes! Illustrated in warm hues, every page is rich with touch animation, and the real charm of this app lies in the variety of interactions it offers. Kids can toss around all the tools in the shoe shop, open doors and windows, light and extinguish candles and even clear away cobwebs. All of the characters, right down to the mice in the corner, move and play, sigh, snore and even dream. The musical-shoes keyboard is tuned to sound great no matter how it is played, and many pages have features that respond to tilting the iPad.

With the thumbnail page scroll and the ability to turn wooden text and narrative off, kids can easily navigate and enjoy what this app has to offer. (iPad storybook app. 4-7)

Pub Date: May 13, 2011

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: TabTale

Review Posted Online: June 12, 2011

Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2011

- BOOK REVIEW
IN FAIRYLAND
by The Brothers Grimm ; illustrated by Hans Fischer ; translated by David Henry Wilson

- BOOK REVIEW
THE FROG PRINCE
by The Brothers Grimm ; illustrated by Sybille Schenker

- BOOK REVIEW
FAIRY TALES FROM THE BROTHERS GRIMM
by The Brothers Grimm & Erik Forrest Jackson illustrated by Owen Richardson

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ON THE FIRST DAY OF KINDERGARTEN

by Tish Rabe ; illustrated by Laura Hughes ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 21, 2016

While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of...

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Rabe follows a young girl through her first 12 days of kindergarten in this book based on the familiar Christmas carol.

The typical firsts of school are here: riding the bus, making friends, sliding on the playground slide, counting, sorting shapes, laughing at lunch, painting, singing, reading, running, jumping rope, and going on a field trip. While the days are given ordinal numbers, the song skips the cardinal numbers in the verses, and the rhythm is sometimes off: “On the second day of kindergarten / I thought it was so cool / making lots of friends / and riding the bus to my school!” The narrator is a white brunette who wears either a tunic or a dress each day, making her pretty easy to differentiate from her classmates, a nice mix in terms of race; two students even sport glasses. The children in the ink, paint, and collage digital spreads show a variety of emotions, but most are happy to be at school, and the surroundings will be familiar to those who have made an orientation visit to their own schools.

While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of Kindergarten (2003), it basically gets the job done. (Picture book. 4-7)

Pub Date: June 21, 2016

ISBN: 978-0-06-234834-0

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins

Review Posted Online: May 3, 2016

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2016

Categories:

CHILDREN'S CONCEPTS | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

- BOOK REVIEW
ON THE FIRST DAY OF FIRST GRADE
by Tish Rabe ; illustrated by Sarah Jennings

- BOOK REVIEW
FIVE LITTLE BUNNIES
by Tish Rabe ; illustrated by Dan Yaccarino

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TINY T. REX AND THE IMPOSSIBLE HUG

by Jonathan Stutzman ; illustrated by Jay Fleck ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 5, 2019

Wins for compassion and for the refusal to let physical limitations hold one back.

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With such short arms, how can Tiny T. Rex give a sad friend a hug?

Fleck goes for cute in the simple, minimally detailed illustrations, drawing the diminutive theropod with a chubby turquoise body and little nubs for limbs under a massive, squared-off head. Impelled by the sight of stegosaurian buddy Pointy looking glum, little Tiny sets out to attempt the seemingly impossible, a comforting hug. Having made the rounds seeking advice—the dino’s pea-green dad recommends math; purple, New Age aunt offers cucumber juice (“That is disgusting”); red mom tells him that it’s OK not to be able to hug (“You are tiny, but your heart is big!”), and blue and yellow older sibs suggest practice—Tiny takes up the last as the most immediately useful notion. Unfortunately, the “tree” the little reptile tries to hug turns out to be a pterodactyl’s leg. “Now I am falling,” Tiny notes in the consistently self-referential narrative. “I should not have let go.” Fortunately, Tiny lands on Pointy’s head, and the proclamation that though Rexes’ hugs may be tiny, “I will do my very best because you are my very best friend” proves just the mood-lightening ticket. “Thank you, Tiny. That was the biggest hug ever.” Young audiences always find the “clueless grown-ups” trope a knee-slapper, the overall tone never turns preachy, and Tiny’s instinctive kindness definitely puts him at (gentle) odds with the dinky dino star of Bob Shea’s Dinosaur Vs. series.

Wins for compassion and for the refusal to let physical limitations hold one back. (Picture book. 5-7)