It's a simple story that emphasizes fun over substance, but the visuals are so crisp and adorable that they'll appeal to...
More Hello Kitty than Peter Rabbit, this very modern app with minimalist illustrations and clever jokes tucked throughout is a cute, if lightweight, cat-and-mouse story.
Porkchop, a perfectly white cat with a small circle for a body and larger circle for a head (with triangle ears, of course), lives in a house with red wallpaper, doors and hanging lights. He also lives with an infestation of mice: fat, oval mice who've been "nibbling on his doughnuts." Porkchop pursues one mouse out of the house, across a field of spinning flowers, through an autumnal forest, over icy mountains and a desert and through a neon-lit city, among other places. There are visual jokes throughout, like Easter Island statues on one page or a beach book called Great Catsby, but many of them are too subtle, or displayed in such small text that they'll be lost on younger readers. The animation isn't jaw-dropping—it's only used in small portions on each page—but it's effective. Mice eating, birds flying and a giant blue moon spinning are activated with button presses or by flicking a finger. The built-in narration's British-accented take on the material is bright and friendly. An option to record one's own narration is also nicely done; a simple microphone icon appears on each page. Porkchop's chase leads back to the house, where the mice have made a peace offering: a huge pile of donuts to share.
It's a simple story that emphasizes fun over substance, but the visuals are so crisp and adorable that they'll appeal to readers who are looking for less-traditional art styles in their storybooks. (iPad storybook app. 2-8)Pub Date: Jan. 18, 2012
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: Ant Hive Games
Review Posted Online: March 4, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2012
This bunny escapes all the traps but fails to find a logical plot or an emotional connection with readers.
The bestselling series (How to Catch an Elf, 2016, etc.) about capturing mythical creatures continues with a story about various ways to catch the Easter Bunny as it makes its annual deliveries.
The bunny narrates its own story in rhyming text, beginning with an introduction at its office in a manufacturing facility that creates Easter eggs and candy. The rabbit then abruptly takes off on its delivery route with a tiny basket of eggs strapped to its back, immediately encountering a trap with carrots and a box propped up with a stick. The narrative focuses on how the Easter Bunny avoids increasingly complex traps set up to catch him with no explanation as to who has set the traps or why. These traps include an underground tunnel, a fluorescent dance floor with a hidden pit of carrots, a robot bunny, pirates on an island, and a cannon that shoots candy fish, as well as some sort of locked, hazardous site with radiation danger. Readers of previous books in the series will understand the premise, but others will be confused by the rabbit’s frenetic escapades. Cartoon-style illustrations have a 1960s vibe, with a slightly scary, bow-tied bunny with chartreuse eyes and a glowing palette of neon shades that shout for attention.
This bunny escapes all the traps but fails to find a logical plot or an emotional connection with readers. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4926-3817-9
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Sourcebooks Jabberwocky
Review Posted Online: Jan. 16, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
