The Adventures of the Time Tub Twins

From the author/illustrator of "The Really Abominable Snowman” (by Walker Books) and "The Eating Monster” (by TopThat), Valentina Mendicino has collaborated with a new start up called Dara Technologies to work on something rather special...

The Adventures of the Time Tub Twins is a realisation of what to expect from the next generation of children's books - by merging real books with smart phone and tablet technology to engage today's eager young minds. 

This is a unique combination of storytelling and technology, never created before. The book can be read normally, but it also comes with an accompanying AR App that makes the reading experience even more special. When viewing the pages of our book through a smartphone or tablet device, the scene becomes interactive allowing the reader to be part of the story. In fact, through technology, the reader can shape their own adventure and interact with the 3D characters that pop out from the page! Interested? Watch the video below to see it in action.

The story is about two little kids who have an extraordinary gift for invention. The twins are capable of creating the impossible in their secret Lab. They even build a "Buddy Generator Machine” for those people who feel lonely and need a friend. Indeed, all along the adventure, the twins are followed by a loyal robo-dog friend made by this machine.

However, one particular invention gives them hard time: The Time Tub Machine. One day, the Time Tub magically activates! It takes the kids on an amazing journey through space and time... but unfortunately, it still has a few problems, leaving the twins stuck in the Dinosaur Era!

Valentina and Dara Technologies have been working on this for the last four months. This is a highly ambitious project that will involve another six months of development. In order to fund the project they are running a campaign on a crowdfunding platform called Indiegogo. To help this become a reality they need your help. There are great rewards for your generosity so pop over to the campaign page now and get supporting!

The Tragic Tale of Dwayne the Eating Monster

The Tragic Tale of Dwayne the Eating Monster

By Valentina Mendicino 
Published by Top That! Publishing

Meet Dwayne the monster, he’s not very good at much except eating and boy does he have an appetite! This funny, lift-the-flap book, is Valentina Mendicino first published book, featuring a very greedy monster! Her second book, The Really Abominable Snowman is about another monster, which I reviewed earlier this year.

In The tragic tale of Dwayne the Eating Monster, we meet Dwayne and the only thing Dwayne loves to do is EAT! One day he decides to try eating new things, and to find out what you need to lift the flap over his tummy. You'll discover he'd eaten a cat followed by the next door neighbour’s dog. His neighbour isn't impressed - but it doesn’t stop him from feeling hungry. The more Dwayne eat the BIGGER he got. Dwayne grew so big that he couldn’t sleep in his bed or tie his shoelaces and couldn’t even fit through his front door any more. But Dwayne doesn’t care, he just wants to keep eating and grows bigger and BIGGER. There’s lots of flaps to lift up and discover whats in his tummy which is lots of fun. 

Unfortunately, as Dwayne gets bigger, so does his appetite, Dwayne starts to eat whole towns and cities! Nothing is safe from Dwayne, not even planet Earth and the Moon. Soon there is nothing left to eat and with a rumbling tummy, something happens that Dwayne thought would never happen - I don’t want to ruin this story, but lets just say there is always a bigger fish in the sea!

Valentina Mendicino’s illustrations are big and bright. Your eyes are drawn to the very pink Dwayne and the many items of food and things you wouldn’t consider food like an iron, a lamppost and even a ladder. 

The recommended age is 3 years and over and children will love lifting the flaps to discover what, or even whom, has become Dwayne’s latest meal. And even though Dwayne is a very greedy and naughty monster, you will feel slightly sorry for him at the end! All in all this is a very inventive story for use in a Lift-The-Flap Book, one that children will want to explore again and again. The tragic tale of Dwayne the Eating Monster is available to buy now at all good bookshops or direct from Top That! publishing online.

A huge thank you to Valentina for providing me this review copy. She even signed it for my 8 month old daughter, Aoife!

The Really Abominable Snowman

The Really Abominable Snowman

By Valentina Mendicino
Published by Walker

 

 

The Really Abominable Snowman, by Valentina Mendicino, is the last book in my winter theme reviews and what a lovely one to end on! And it couldn’t be more perfectly timed as where I live is actually expecting snow tonight! Yippee! 

 

Who would ever think you could feel sorry for an abominable snowman? But in The Really Abominable Snowman, this yeti is lonely and very misunderstood and you can't but not help feeling sad for him. His name is Milo and he lives in a deep, dark cave high in the Himalayas. It's been said that he eats children, is huge and terrifying, hideous and smells like old cheese…

 

...But Milo isn’t any of these things, he likes to make cupcakes, do craft time and is also very neat! But none of this matters, as everyone still sees him as the terrifying abominable snowman which of course  makes Milo very sad. All he wants is a friend to share his cupcakes with that he lovingly bakes. Milo decides its time for a makeover, he tries posh, punk and even French as new looks, but he’s not happy with any of them. He then wants to try social networks as he had heard they were great ways of making new friends. Milo tries to send a “tweet” but doesn't use the conventional way of a computer and is confused when him shouting 'Tweet' through a megaphone doesn't get any results.

 

When all looks lost, Milo comes across a notice in the Himalayan Times for The Society of Misunderstood Creatures - a meet up for all kinds of creatures who aren't quite what people say they are. Milo decides to pop along to see if there's a chance of meeting some new friends. The meet up is buzzing with dragons, fleas, robots, octopuses and even Dracula! They're all chatting and having a good time but when Milo arrives, even these creatures misunderstand him and run away! Will Milo ever find a friend?

 

It turns out that not everyone has run off, there's one creature left who happens to be an abominable snowman just like Milo, and her name is Sophie. Although she's not quite the same size...

 

There are lovely touches in this book that make it a gem. You'll find surprise fold out pages to show the huge size of Milo’s new friend, there’s also lots of visual jokes hinting at popular culture within the brightly coloured illustrations. Watch out for the poster in Milo's cave, the 'Keep Calm and Eat Cupcakes' poster made me chuckle. You'll spot birds using phones to go on twitter when Milo thinks he has to say the word tweet. I also loved the fact that Milo thinks that Facebook is reading a book to find friends instead of going online. Little children may not get all the jokes but it will definitely amuse the adults reading it.

 

 

I love the end message that Milo knew that there would be always someone who loves you, no matter what you are. A positive message to children who will definitely love the happy ending for the misunderstood and lonely Milo!

 

Children will adore this lovable abominable snowman, who's not very scary at all. An overall funny and lovely book! The Really Abominable Snowman is available now in all good bookshops and direct from Walker.