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ARTHUR TURNS GREEN

Name: ARTHUR TURNS GREEN
Author: Marc Brown

From the Arthur series

by Marc Brown & illustrated by Marc Brown & developed by ScrollMotion ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 23, 2011

On the first page Arthur's teacher assigns a project called the Big Green Machine. Arthur and his friends quickly start...

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This adaptation of Brown’s newest Arthur story offers pretty much the traditional experience of reading a book; the interactive features that are the hallmark of this new generation of the “book” experience are somewhat limited.

On the first page Arthur's teacher assigns a project called the Big Green Machine. Arthur and his friends quickly start thinking of ways they can "help make the planet a better place to live." A swipe to turn the page zooms in on each character as they come up with ideas both silly (eating more so there is less garbage) and sound (recycling old clothes) before entirely turning to the next page. This technique works well to integrate the illustrations with the story, successfully mimicking the way the eye moves around a picture. The words light up as they are being read, and the pages turn forward easily with just a swipe. Interactive features within the book are limited to optional self-recorded text, on/off audio, page selection and optional automatic page turn. From the home menu, which is easily reached by the Arthur button in the upper left, readers can opt to "paint" the illustrations or do puzzles of varying levels of difficulty.

Pub Date: April 23, 2011

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: ScrollMotion

Review Posted Online: May 17, 2011

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2011

- BOOK REVIEW
HOP HELPS OUT
by Marc Brown with Peter K. Hirsch & Tolon Brown ; illustrated by Marc Brown

- BOOK REVIEW
WHY DID THE MONSTER CROSS THE ROAD?
by R.L. Stine ; illustrated by Marc Brown

- BOOK REVIEW
BELIEVE IN YOURSELF
by Marc Brown ; illustrated by Marc Brown

PETE THE CAT'S 12 GROOVY DAYS OF CHRISTMAS

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PETE THE CAT'S 12 GROOVY DAYS OF CHRISTMAS

by James Dean ; illustrated by James Dean ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 18, 2018

Pete’s fans might find it groovy; anyone else has plenty of other “12 Days of Christmas” variants to choose among

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Pete, the cat who couldn’t care less, celebrates Christmas with his inimitable lassitude.

If it weren’t part of the title and repeated on every other page, readers unfamiliar with Pete’s shtick might have a hard time arriving at “groovy” to describe his Christmas celebration, as the expressionless cat displays not a hint of groove in Dean’s now-trademark illustrations. Nor does Pete have a great sense of scansion: “On the first day of Christmas, / Pete gave to me… / A road trip to the sea. / GROOVY!” The cat is shown at the wheel of a yellow microbus strung with garland and lights and with a star-topped tree tied to its roof. On the second day of Christmas Pete gives “me” (here depicted as a gray squirrel who gets on the bus) “2 fuzzy gloves, and a road trip to the sea. / GROOVY!” On the third day, he gives “me” (now a white cat who joins Pete and the squirrel) “3 yummy cupcakes,” etc. The “me” mentioned in the lyrics changes from day to day and gift to gift, with “4 far-out surfboards” (a frog), “5 onion rings” (crocodile), and “6 skateboards rolling” (a yellow bird that shares its skateboards with the white cat, the squirrel, the frog, and the crocodile while Pete drives on). Gifts and animals pile on until the microbus finally arrives at the seaside and readers are told yet again that it’s all “GROOVY!”

Pete’s fans might find it groovy; anyone else has plenty of other “12 Days of Christmas” variants to choose among . (Picture book. 4-8)

Pub Date: Sept. 18, 2018

ISBN: 978-0-06-267527-9

Page Count: 48

Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins

Review Posted Online: Aug. 19, 2018

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2018

Categories:

CHILDREN'S ANIMALS | CHILDREN'S HOLIDAYS & CELEBRATIONS

- BOOK REVIEW
PETE THE KITTY'S FIRST DAY OF PRESCHOOL
by Kimberly Dean ; illustrated by James Dean

- BOOK REVIEW
I LOVE PETE THE KITTY
by James Dean & Kimberly Dean ; illustrated by James Dean

- BOOK REVIEW
TOOL SCHOOL
by Joan Holub ; illustrated by James Dean

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LOVE FROM THE CRAYONS

by Drew Daywalt ; illustrated by Oliver Jeffers ‧ RELEASE DATE: Dec. 24, 2019

As ephemeral as a valentine.

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Daywalt and Jeffers’ wandering crayons explore love.

Each double-page spread offers readers a vision of one of the anthropomorphic crayons on the left along with the statement “Love is [color].” The word love is represented by a small heart in the appropriate color. Opposite, childlike crayon drawings explain how that color represents love. So, readers learn, “love is green. / Because love is helpful.” The accompanying crayon drawing depicts two alligators, one holding a recycling bin and the other tossing a plastic cup into it, offering readers two ways of understanding green. Some statements are thought-provoking: “Love is white. / Because sometimes love is hard to see,” reaches beyond the immediate image of a cat’s yellow eyes, pink nose, and black mouth and whiskers, its white face and body indistinguishable from the paper it’s drawn on, to prompt real questions. “Love is brown. / Because sometimes love stinks,” on the other hand, depicted by a brown bear standing next to a brown, squiggly turd, may provoke giggles but is fundamentally a cheap laugh. Some of the color assignments have a distinctly arbitrary feel: Why is purple associated with the imagination and pink with silliness? Fans of The Day the Crayons Quit (2013) hoping for more clever, metaliterary fun will be disappointed by this rather syrupy read.

As ephemeral as a valentine. (Picture book. 4-6)