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ON THE NIGHT YOU WERE BORN

Name: ON THE NIGHT YOU WERE BORN
Author: Nancy Tillman

by Nancy Tillman ; illustrated by Nancy Tillman ; developed by Auryn Inc. ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 4, 2014

Nevertheless, it’s a tasteful and loving adaptation; those who love the original book will find much to admire here.

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A digital adaptation of the New York Times best-seller.

The iPad version of Tillman’s popular picture book has a lot going for it. First and foremost, her lush illustrations shine on the tablet screen. Second, Auryn, a developer that’s known for turning out unique, inventive storybook apps, is at the technological helm. They have embedded so many interactions, in fact, that they might overwhelm readers. For example, there are options to record a voice-over of the entire story or provide personalized, page-by-page “whispers” for the moon to utter, but the setup for the latter is rather cumbersome. Kids will love hearing characters occasionally speak their names (which are recorded at the outset). But when the software changes the vocal frequency for various animals, at times it sounds eerily similar to Darth Vader. Still, Auryn hits it out of the park when swarms of birds, ladybugs and glowing lanterns rise to spell out the child’s name. It’s spectacular. And there are other cool components, such as a scrapbook feature that allows for the storage of up to six homespun videos. Advancing pages is counterintuitive (the compulsory index scrolls upward) and exceptionally slow, if also extremely beautiful in the transitions.

Nevertheless, it’s a tasteful and loving adaptation; those who love the original book will find much to admire here. (Requires iOS 6 and above.) (iPad storybook app. 2-6)

Pub Date: Feb. 4, 2014

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Auryn

Review Posted Online: June 26, 2014

Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2014

- BOOK REVIEW
YOU'RE HERE FOR A REASON
by Nancy Tillman ; illustrated by Nancy Tillman

- BOOK REVIEW
THE HEAVEN OF ANIMALS
by Nancy Tillman ; illustrated by Nancy Tillman

- BOOK REVIEW
LET THERE BE LIGHT
by Desmond Tutu ; illustrated by Nancy Tillman

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LITTLE BLUE TRUCK'S CHRISTMAS

by Alice Schertle ; illustrated by Jill McElmurry ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 23, 2014

Little Blue’s fans will enjoy the animal sounds and counting opportunities, but it’s the sparkling lights on the truck’s own...

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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

Categories:

CHILDREN'S CONCEPTS | CHILDREN'S HOLIDAYS & CELEBRATIONS | CHILDREN'S TRANSPORTATION

- BOOK REVIEW
LITTLE BLUE TRUCK MAKES A FRIEND
by Alice Schertle ; illustrated by Jill McElmurry

- BOOK REVIEW
TIME FOR SCHOOL, LITTLE BLUE TRUCK
by Alice Schertle ; illustrated by John Joseph

- BOOK REVIEW
LITTLE BLUE TRUCK'S VALENTINE
by Alice Schertle ; illustrated by John Joseph

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LOVE FROM THE VERY HUNGRY CATERPILLAR

by Eric Carle ; illustrated by Eric Carle ‧ RELEASE DATE: Dec. 15, 2015

Safe to creep on by.

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Carle’s famous caterpillar expresses its love.

In three sentences that stretch out over most of the book’s 32 pages, the (here, at least) not-so-ravenous larva first describes the object of its love, then describes how that loved one makes it feel before concluding, “That’s why… / I[heart]U.” There is little original in either visual or textual content, much of it mined from The Very Hungry Caterpillar. “You are… / …so sweet,” proclaims the caterpillar as it crawls through the hole it’s munched in a strawberry; “…the cherry on my cake,” it says as it perches on the familiar square of chocolate cake; “…the apple of my eye,” it announces as it emerges from an apple. Images familiar from other works join the smiling sun that shone down on the caterpillar as it delivers assurances that “you make… / …the sun shine brighter / …the stars sparkle,” and so on. The book is small, only 7 inches high and 5 ¾ inches across when closed—probably not coincidentally about the size of a greeting card. While generations of children have grown up with the ravenous caterpillar, this collection of Carle imagery and platitudinous sentiment has little of his classic’s charm. The melding of Carle’s caterpillar with Robert Indiana’s iconic LOVE on the book’s cover, alas, draws further attention to its derivative nature.

Safe to creep on by. (Picture book. 3-6)