The cutie monsters live up to their name, but that's about it.
An app that’s high on cuteness and low on actual counting skills.
This app features 10 playful monsters, reminiscent of the popular Ugly Dolls, with text that encourages readers to count items from one to 10. “Blushy has one curly tail. / Toothy has two horrible horns.” Toddlers will laugh at the colorful monsters and their goofy, mostly apropos names. With a touch, the monster wiggles and makes a silly sound, and the relevant numeral appears in a clear, large type. Unfortunately, it is unlikely that this app will help young children learn to count, as there are no interactive features prompting children to touch and count the item in question. The app has three modes: read it myself, “touch read” words and jigsaw puzzle. With the “touch read” option, readers must tap individual words to hear them spoken aloud. This keeps young readers attentive to the app, but it requires them to tap the words in the correct order for a full sentence. The jigsaw-puzzle activity is well designed for toddlers and preschoolers, with three to six simple pieces each. This app will help children learning to count if they read it with an adult as they would a picture book, but it does not take advantage of the iPad’s interactive features to reinforce counting skills.
The cutie monsters live up to their name, but that's about it. (iPad storybook app. 2-5)Pub Date: Dec. 21, 2012
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: Little Phoenix Interactive
Review Posted Online: March 12, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2013
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A successful swap from coconut tree to Christmas tree.
A Christmas edition of the beloved alphabet book.
The story starts off nearly identically to Chicka Chicka Boom Boom (1989), written by John Archambault and the late Bill Martin Jr, with the letters A, B, and C deciding to meet in the branches of a tree. This time, they’re attempting to scale a Christmas tree, not a coconut tree, and the letters are strung together like garland. A, B, and C are joined by the other letters, and of course they all “slip, slop, topple, plop!” right down the tree. At the bottom, they discover an assortment of gifts, all in a variety of shapes. As a team, the letters and presents organize themselves to get back up on the Christmas tree and get a star to the top. Holiday iterations of favorite tales often fall flat, but this take succeeds. The gifts are an easy way to reinforce another preschool concept—shapes—and the text uses just enough of the original to be familiar. The rhyming works, sticking to the cadence of the source material. The illustrations pay homage to the late Lois Ehlert’s, featuring the same bold block letters, though they lack some of the whimsy and personality of the original. Otherwise, everything is similarly brightly colored and simply drawn. Those familiar with the classic will be drawn to this one, but newcomers can enjoy it on its own.
A successful swap from coconut tree to Christmas tree. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2024
ISBN: 9781665954761
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Beach Lane/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: July 4, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
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