If you need to buy any Brave tie-in, this is the one.
A reasonably full version of the Pixar film’s storyline illustrated with flat, lively cartoons rather than stills.
The tale features mother-daughter spats in a medieval castle, rides through ruggedly beautiful countryside, fights with and between giant bears and a princess as strong-willed as her wild thicket of red hair. It is set into variously shaped panels that appear one at a time in sequence with taps on the right edge of each screen. The background music is drawn from the movie, as is most of the boxed narrative commentary and the dialogue in balloons (from “It’s not just a story. Legends are lessons; they ring with truth.” to “That scaffy witch gave me a gamy spell!”). Fades and glides add a sense of movement on each screen, and except that Queen Elinor sounds like Chewbacca after she’s transformed into a bear, the sound effects effectively add both atmosphere and drama to the quickly paced tale. Unobtrusive and pleasing side features include several elaborate character portraits by the film’s conceptual artists and an interactive drawing board for figures of Princess Merida and the five bears in the story. Though trailing the movie’s “Storybook Deluxe” app in sophistication of art and software gimmickry, this iteration offers much more developed renditions of its progenitor’s plot, cast (female cast, anyway: The men are all just humongous galoots) and themes.
If you need to buy any Brave tie-in, this is the one. (iPad graphic-novel app. 7-9)Pub Date: June 17, 2012
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: Disney Publishing Worldwide Applications
Review Posted Online: July 17, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2012
What a wag.
What do you get from sewing the head of a smart dog onto the body of a tough police officer? A new superhero from the incorrigible creator of Captain Underpants.
Finding a stack of old Dog Mancomics that got them in trouble back in first grade, George and Harold decide to craft a set of new(ish) adventures with (more or less) improved art and spelling. These begin with an origin tale (“A Hero Is Unleashed”), go on to a fiendish attempt to replace the chief of police with a “Robo Chief” and then a temporarily successful scheme to make everyone stupid by erasing all the words from every book (“Book ’Em, Dog Man”), and finish off with a sort of attempted alien invasion evocatively titled “Weenie Wars: The Franks Awaken.” In each, Dog Man squares off against baddies (including superinventor/archnemesis Petey the cat) and saves the day with a clever notion. With occasional pauses for Flip-O-Rama featurettes, the tales are all framed in brightly colored sequential panels with hand-lettered dialogue (“How do you feel, old friend?” “Ruff!”) and narrative. The figures are studiously diverse, with police officers of both genders on view and George, the chief, and several other members of the supporting cast colored in various shades of brown. Pilkey closes as customary with drawing exercises, plus a promise that the canine crusader will be further unleashed in a sequel.
What a wag. (Graphic fantasy. 7-9)Pub Date: Aug. 30, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-545-58160-8
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Graphix/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: May 31, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2016
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It’s hard to argue with success, but guides that actually do the math will be more useful to budding capitalists.
How to raise money for a coveted poster: put your friends to work!
John, founder of the FUBU fashion line and a Shark Tank venture capitalist, offers a self-referential blueprint for financial success. Having only half of the $10 he needs for a Minka J poster, Daymond forks over $1 to buy a plain T-shirt, paints a picture of the pop star on it, sells it for $5, and uses all of his cash to buy nine more shirts. Then he recruits three friends to decorate them with his design and help sell them for an unspecified amount (from a conveniently free and empty street-fair booth) until they’re gone. The enterprising entrepreneur reimburses himself for the shirts and splits the remaining proceeds, which leaves him with enough for that poster as well as a “brand-new business book,” while his friends express other fiscal strategies: saving their share, spending it all on new art supplies, or donating part and buying a (math) book with the rest. (In a closing summation, the author also suggests investing in stocks, bonds, or cryptocurrency.) Though Miles cranks up the visual energy in her sparsely detailed illustrations by incorporating bright colors and lots of greenbacks, the actual advice feels a bit vague. Daymond is Black; most of the cast are people of color. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
It’s hard to argue with success, but guides that actually do the math will be more useful to budding capitalists. (Picture book. 7-9)Pub Date: March 21, 2023
ISBN: 978-0-593-56727-2
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: Dec. 13, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2023
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