Don’t let it steer you wrong

New releases

I gotta admit, my expectations are low with almost every Peanuts kiddie storybook. I am, after all, a retired kiddie at best. These things are not (and should not be) aimed at me. This low expectation allows me to occasionally be pleasantly surprised by a nice little scene, a funny illustration.

Snoopy Flies to the Rescue!, however, manages to actually disappoint.

The reason for this disappointment is that this is billed as “a Steer the Story™ book.” There’s a cardboard steering wheel built into the book. It folds out on a little extension arm, so someone on the left (presumably a child being read to) can steer it, while someone on the right (presumably an adult or a very well trained cocker spaniel) reads the book to them. Now, the book is an interactive book — there are flaps to lift at various points, to reveal hidden things. But twice in the tale, the interaction is that you are told to steer, to help the Flying Ace control his plane.

And dagnabbit, based on the descriptor, I expected that steering to actually do something. To make something in the book wiggle or shift in some way. But no. Turning the wheel has no effect. It’s just a cardboard wheel pinned to a cardboard stick, no mechanism at all.

The storytelling by May Nakamura is okay, the art by Robert Pope is fine. The things revealed by the flaps are unimpressive. (Hey, lift this flap on the left hand page to see that Snoopy dresses up as the Flying Ace… which you already knew, because there is a big shot of the Flying Ace on the right-hand page.) The book ends with a pop-up… a single-piece pop-up, pretty much the minimum thing that could be described as a pop-up. Overall, this comes across as an item that is supposed to look good in an ad summary rather than one that is good in experience. If you want an interactive book, I bet ones with sound buttons will go over better than this.

New releases
A pop-up shows up

Here Comes Charlie Brown!: A Peanuts Pop-up, Gene Kannenberg, Jr.’s adaptation of the very first Peanuts strip, is not the first Peanuts book to reprint only a single strip. There was at least one board book that did much the same thing. However, that board book was, at heart, a …

Classic finds
English Phrases to Comfort Your Heart

The next book in my Amazon Japan shipment falls into the adorable category of “Peanuts used to explain American culture”. English Phrases to Comfort Your Heart with Snoopy by Nobu Yamada falls into that category. It also falls into the category of “books which are meant to be destroyed”, as each …

New releases
Look! A mook!

Mooks – that is, items with magazine-like content but sold more like a book – are popular in Japan. Many of them come bundled with extra items, and there have been a fair number with Peanuts items. Most often these are bags – a handbag or a tote of some …