Watch and Read: Spotlight on Media Tie-ins
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Joy Fleishhacker -- School Library Journal, 10/13/2008 10:24:00 AM
Antics in Africa
DreamWorks’ computer-animated Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa (PG) will be released in theaters on November 7, 2008. The sequel to Madagascar (2005), in which a bunch of zoo animals (and inveterate New Yorkers) embark on a madcap journey that leaves them shipwrecked and far from home, Escape 2 Africa features the same four endearing protagonists: Alex (voiced by Ben Stiller), a lion with crowd-pleasing charm and show-stopping dance skills; Marty (Chris Rock), a zebra who likes to think outside the herd mentality; Melman (David Schwimmer), a hypochondriac giraffe with a big heart; and Gloria (Jada Pinkett Smith), a sassy yet sweet-natured hippo.
Ready to head back to New York City and all the comforts of civilization, the friends and their critter cohorts board an antique plane, repaired and manned by Skipper (Tom McGrath) and his can-do squad of penguins. Before long, the rattletrap conveyance crash-lands on the African savannah. When Alex finds himself reunited with his long-lost parents, it’s a touching family moment, but does he have what it takes to undergo the Rite of Passage and become Alpha Lion? Humor and adventure abound as the zoo animals, each with his or her unique abilities and personal pizzazz, take on the challenges of life in their ancestral homeland. Kids can preview the action at the official Web site.
Movie Tie-ins
Film fans can relive the animals’ comical escapades by perusing a line of Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa books from HarperCollins. All of the covers sport attention-grabbing images from the movie—with the featured foursome mugging it up—and a unified design scheme of colors and graphic borders. Lost in Africa provides a fast-paced retelling of the entire tale, presented in brief cliff-hanger chapters and illustrated throughout with gray-toned movie images (Gr 2–4). Older readers will relish The Junior Novel, which conveys the story in more detail and percolates with wise-cracking dialogue. Chapter heads are delineated with an appealing graphic design—silhouettes of the characters set against the African continent—and eight pages of glossy, full-color film photos are included.
Two beginning readers, illustrated with warm-hued pencil-and-paint interior artwork, employ simple sentences to focus on particular plotlines. Air Penguin details the efforts of Skipper and his crew as they overcome technical setbacks “With grit, spit, and a lot of tape!” and repair the plane in the nick of time. In Father and Son Save the Day, Alex finds a way to show his dad that he can be the pride of the pride (K–Gr 2).
Two staple-bound picture books make for browsing fun. Walk on the Wild Side Scrapbook blends snapshot-style movie photos with captions and dialogue zingers to recap the animals’ exploits. In The Gang’s All Here!, slick spreads introduce each of the main characters with brief, chatty text and colorful movie images (PreS–Gr 3).
Pub Info
KATSCHKE, Judy, adapt. Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa: Lost in Africa. HarperEntertainment. pap. $4.99. ISBN 978-0-06-144779-2.
BRIGHT, J. E., adapt. Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa: The Junior Novel. HarperEntertainment. pap. $4.99. ISBN 978-0-06-144783-9.
HERMAN, Gail, adapt. Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa: Air Penguin. illus. by Charles Grosvenor & Lydia Halverson. HarperTrophy. pap. $3.99. ISBN 978-0-06-157764-2.
_____. Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa: Father and Son Save the Day. illus. by Charles Grosvenor & Lydia Halverson. HarperTrophy. pap. $3.99. ISBN 978-0-06-144780-8.
CHESTERFIELD, Sadie, adapt. Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa: Walk on the Wild Side Scrapbook. HarperEntertainment. pap. $3.99. ISBN 978-0-06-157766-6.
AUERBACH, Annie, adapt. Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa: The Gang’s All Here! HarperEntertainment. pap. $3.99. ISBN 978-0-06-144776-1.
ea vol: 2008.
