A FRIEND TO THE RESCUE

Name: A FRIEND TO THE RESCUE
Author: David Carson

by David Carson & illustrated by David Carson developed by Jolly Bubble ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 3, 2012

Extensive editing and a major software upgrade might raise this wreck, but it will take more than that to keep it afloat.

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Written over a decade ago when the author was 10 and evidently never revised, this aquatic app sinks under the combined weight of clumsy prose and a severely limited suite of rudimentary special effects.

The plot is rudimentary too. With help from a sea turtle and other friends (plural in the story, if not the title), a lost baby whale eludes sharks by hiding behind a “giant piece of corral [sic],” then rejoins his mother at last. In each sparely detailed cartoon scene, tapping five buttons shaped like shells or other sea life will cause as many random nautical facts to drop into view. These range from the uselessly broad “50-80% of all life on earth [sic] is found in the ocean,” to an awkwardly phrased claim that the “deepest spot in the ocean is the Mariana Trench and is approximately 35,797 feet deep in the Pacific Ocean.” Tapping anywhere else on any screen causes bubbles to appear with loud bloops, which is the only other interactive feature. There is no audio narration or music, nor options for paging backward or even for starting over.

Extensive editing and a major software upgrade might raise this wreck, but it will take more than that to keep it afloat. (iPad storybook/informational app. 6-8)

Pub Date: March 3, 2012

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Jolly Bubble

Review Posted Online: March 27, 2012

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2012

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DIARY OF A SPIDER

by Doreen Cronin & illustrated by Harry Bliss ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 1, 2005

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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

Categories:

CHILDREN'S ANIMALS

- BOOK REVIEW
LAWRENCE & SOPHIA
by Doreen Cronin ; illustrated by Brian Cronin

- BOOK REVIEW
MAMA IN THE MOON
by Doreen Cronin ; illustrated by Brian Cronin

- BOOK REVIEW
LAWRENCE & SOPHIA
by Doreen Cronin ; illustrated by Brian Cronin

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HENRY AND MUDGE AND THE STARRY NIGHT

From the Henry and Mudge series

by Cynthia Rylant & illustrated by Sucie Stevenson ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 1, 1998

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Rylant (Henry and Mudge and the Sneaky Crackers, 1998, etc.) slips into a sentimental mode for this latest outing of the boy and his dog, as she sends Mudge and Henry and his parents off on a camping trip. Each character is attended to, each personality sketched in a few brief words: Henry's mother is the camping veteran with outdoor savvy; Henry's father doesn't know a tent stake from a marshmallow fork, but he's got a guitar for campfire entertainment; and the principals are their usual ready-for-fun selves. There are sappy moments, e.g., after an evening of star- gazing, Rylant sends the family off to bed with: ``Everyone slept safe and sound and there were no bears, no scares. Just the clean smell of trees . . . and wonderful green dreams.'' With its nice tempo, the story is as toasty as its campfire and swaddled in Stevenson's trusty artwork. (Fiction. 6-8)