A bland digital alternative to Phillis Gershator and Holly C. Kim’s Iroko-Man (1994) that, in its own mild but firm way,...
A rhythmic Swahili song, a gender switch and a grafted-on happy ending sweeten this version of a West African tale about a childless woman who makes a rash promise to a tree spirit.
Being “young, married and barren,” Oluronbi travels to the Iroko tree to ask for a child. Being proud and also either greedy or pigheaded (this is never made clear), instead of begging, she rudely demands a beautiful daughter—and instead of the traditional offering of goods, she promises said daughter to the tree after five years. Of course she reneges on that promise, but when the tree’s spirit (female here, male in other versions) seizes the child, so great is her remorse that the spirit gives it back and mother and daughter live happily ever after. The illustrations are cleanly drawn but rather staid, depicting Nigerian figures in brightly patterned dress and village settings. They are brightened up both by a chorus that sings a song to the Iroko Spirit in one scene but can be heard in the background throughout and by a particularly lively, accented narrator. Options include autoplay, suppressed text (though that also hides the occasional pop-up window containing cultural side notes), and access to both the menu and a thumbnail page index available from any screen. Three tile games are tacked on at the end. There are no in-app purchases, though sending feedback requires registration.
A bland digital alternative to Phillis Gershator and Holly C. Kim’s Iroko-Man (1994) that, in its own mild but firm way, makes points about respecting nature and keeping promises. (iPad folktale. 6-8)Pub Date: July 10, 2013
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: Genii Games
Review Posted Online: Aug. 20, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2013
A brisk if bland offering for series fans, but cleverer metafictive romps abound.
The titular cookie runs off the page at a bookstore storytime, pursued by young listeners and literary characters.
Following on 13 previous How To Catch… escapades, Wallace supplies sometimes-tortured doggerel and Elkerton, a set of helter-skelter cartoon scenes. Here the insouciant narrator scampers through aisles, avoiding a series of elaborate snares set by the racially diverse young storytime audience with help from some classic figures: “Alice and her mad-hat friends, / as a gift for my unbirthday, / helped guide me through the walls of shelves— / now I’m bound to find my way.” The literary helpers don’t look like their conventional or Disney counterparts in the illustrations, but all are clearly identified by at least a broad hint or visual cue, like the unnamed “wizard” who swoops in on a broom to knock over a tower labeled “Frogwarts.” Along with playing a bit fast and loose with details (“Perhaps the boy with the magic beans / saved me with his cow…”) the author discards his original’s lip-smacking climax to have the errant snack circling back at last to his book for a comfier sort of happily-ever-after.
A brisk if bland offering for series fans, but cleverer metafictive romps abound. (Picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: Aug. 3, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-7282-0935-7
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Sourcebooks Wonderland
Review Posted Online: July 26, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
The wriggly narrator of Diary of a Worm (2003) puts in occasional appearances, but it’s his arachnid buddy who takes center stage here, with terse, tongue-in-cheek comments on his likes (his close friend Fly, Charlotte’s Web), his dislikes (vacuums, people with big feet), nervous encounters with a huge Daddy Longlegs, his extended family—which includes a Grandpa more than willing to share hard-won wisdom (The secret to a long, happy life: “Never fall asleep in a shoe.”)—and mishaps both at spider school and on the human playground. Bliss endows his garden-dwellers with faces and the odd hat or other accessory, and creates cozy webs or burrows colorfully decorated with corks, scraps, plastic toys and other human detritus. Spider closes with the notion that we could all get along, “just like me and Fly,” if we but got to know one another. Once again, brilliantly hilarious. (Picture book. 6-8)
Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2005
ISBN: 0-06-000153-4
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Joanna Cotler/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2005
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