Speech-recognition software is just not there yet in this pretty-but-glitchy app
What might have been a daring choice—instead of traditional narration, word highlighting is triggered by a reader's voice—sinks this otherwise-attractive adaptation of the classic poem.
Winken (the original poem's "Wynken" and "Blynken" have been regularized) is imagined as a rhinoceros, Blinken is a frog and Nod is a cute baby adorned with a folded-newspaper hat in Rosenthal's appealing cut-paper illustrations. Well-chosen sound effects and spare animations would make this perfect for a bedtime story, but the frustration of literally trying to make your voice heard renders it useless in that or any other function. The absence of any navigation options at all makes the problem even worse; readers may find they can’t get anywhere without screaming at the app or turning it off and starting over. The help page instructs viewers to read the words out loud, suggesting that talking louder and/or moving the iPad closer if there are problems, but this results in inconsistent success. While touching the words on the screen isn’t offered as an option, it does appear to work on some of the pages. Touching the words and speaking simultaneously on the very first page, however, may cause the remainder of the text to disappear altogether. Offering the option of turning off the speech-recognition function and providing a way to advance the story would save this app.
Speech-recognition software is just not there yet in this pretty-but-glitchy app . (iPad storybook app. 2-6)Pub Date: Aug. 22, 2011
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: Larva Labs
Review Posted Online: Oct. 30, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2011
Little Blue’s fans will enjoy the animal sounds and counting opportunities, but it’s the sparkling lights on the truck’s own...
The sturdy Little Blue Truck is back for his third adventure, this time delivering Christmas trees to his band of animal pals.
The truck is decked out for the season with a Christmas wreath that suggests a nose between headlights acting as eyeballs. Little Blue loads up with trees at Toad’s Trees, where five trees are marked with numbered tags. These five trees are counted and arithmetically manipulated in various ways throughout the rhyming story as they are dropped off one by one to Little Blue’s friends. The final tree is reserved for the truck’s own use at his garage home, where he is welcomed back by the tree salestoad in a neatly circular fashion. The last tree is already decorated, and Little Blue gets a surprise along with readers, as tiny lights embedded in the illustrations sparkle for a few seconds when the last page is turned. Though it’s a gimmick, it’s a pleasant surprise, and it fits with the retro atmosphere of the snowy country scenes. The short, rhyming text is accented with colored highlights, red for the animal sounds and bright green for the numerical words in the Christmas-tree countdown.
Little Blue’s fans will enjoy the animal sounds and counting opportunities, but it’s the sparkling lights on the truck’s own tree that will put a twinkle in a toddler’s eyes. (Picture book. 2-5)Pub Date: Sept. 23, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-544-32041-3
Page Count: 24
Publisher: HMH Books
Review Posted Online: Aug. 11, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2014
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It’s not whether you win or lose; it’s how many mediocre sequels you can squeeze out of Seussian property.
Since a reformed Grinch is hardly any fun, this follow-up Grinches him up once more.
Those seeking more of the same, prepare to receive precisely that. Christmas is coming (again!), and the Grinch can hardly wait. He’s been patient all year, and now he can finally show the Whos down in Who-ville how much he’s changed. When the Grinch learns of a tree-decorating contest, he figures that if he wins, it’ll prove he truly has the Christmas spirit. He throws himself into the task, but when it comes time to judge the trees, the Grinch is horrified to discover that he’s received only the second-place trophy. Can Cindy-Lou Who find the words to save the day? Replicating many of the original beats and wordplay of the original, this tale feels like less a sequel and more like a vaguely rewritten variation. Meanwhile, Ruiz’s art seeks to bridge the gap between the animated Chuck Jones version of the Grinch and the one depicted in the original book. This thankless task results in a strange uncanny valley between Seuss and Jones but does allow the artist a chance to colorize everything and lend some racial diversity to the Who population (Cindy-Lou is light-skinned). (This book was reviewed digitally.)
It’s not whether you win or lose; it’s how many mediocre sequels you can squeeze out of Seussian property. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Sept. 5, 2023
ISBN: 9780593563168
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: Aug. 15, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2023
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