Dandelion is an interactive universal app with a wonderful sense of style, developed as an app with a message about bullying.

There is a lot that I enjoy about this app, recently chosen as an application of special interest in the books category by iTunes.

The most striking element of this app is the sense of style, shown not quite in black and white, as more of a sepia-tone look is included, adding the slightly warmer shades of subtle desaturated browns – an interesting choice – which allows areas of the screen to pop softly, adding a vintage, almost timeless look to this app that is also quite modern-looking as seen on the screen of one’s device.

Likewise, the illustrations and simple, animated moments are gorgeous to look at as are the intriguing characters, especially that of the main character Benjamin, drawn without a face and who seems to glow from the backlit device. These images are beautiful and will stay with readers for a long time, especially the ability to blow fluff off a dandelion – lovely to explore, to be sure.

Very good narration is also included if one wishes, and I enjoy how this app and the page turns are styled to look like one is looking through a view finder, including a 3D effect that one can see when moving one’s device, as well as an artful use of mild distressing which adds a bit of texture as well.

This is the story about how Benjamin is being bullied by boys from The School for The Misguided – what to me is presumably a reformatory of sorts, “A place for Ne’er Do Wells and Bullies.” However, it is unclear to me if this is the school that he attends or has to pass by on the way to his own school.

As only one school is noted in this story, I will assume that Benjamin attends The School for The Misguided, and this is an element that I have a hard time getting past. How could this child be thrown into such an institution where he will obviously be eaten alive, as he is less than half the size of the other students and a sensitive soul who would not fare well in this environment?

It is worth noting that Benjamin is not just being teased, he is being physically harmed, needing to tend to wounds. Because of all this, while blowing on dandelions, he begins to make wishes for the school to disappear, which never happens, but he learns from these dandelions how to let go of his fears and and gain confidence.

I find many of the elements of this app quite moving, such as the included music and imagery.

I do find the actual story, written in rhyme, to be underwhelming. yet if one wants to take away from this tale a sense of confidence and a lack of being afraid, this I welcome them to do so.

For me, it may have worked better if the main character were dealing with a different sort of bully, more subtle in the approach, such as an outsider girl dealing with “mean girls,” who could possibly rise above the mental daggers thrown her way, but if one is being physically harmed by dangerous teens with one foot in jail, confidence will go only so far.

I have no doubt that the chance to blow the dandelion fluff as well as the mythology of Benjamin making his wishes will be moving to anyone reading or listening to this story, but with the setup included here, more than inner confidence is needed to deal with the situation as it has been written, leading me to struggle to understand the message of this application.

Art, By Age Range, By App Feature, Preschool, Primary School, Reading, Reviews, Social, Stories

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz for iPad is Random House Digital’s app based on the classic children’s book of the same name.

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is a favorite story of mine, and I do enjoy how this app includes a very nice picture book section with excellent narration as well as wonderfully rich and stylized illustrations containing mild yet effective interactions and moody, atmospheric music. These slightly animated illustrations are also found within the unabridged version of this book – a nice touch.

I enjoy the storybook section, as although adapted from the longer version, this storybook includes many of the details and nuances found in the original book, making this section not overly simplistic – a very nice primer for children new to these Oz titles.

The narration is top-notch, and I enjoy following along with the highlighted text. I do find the elements of narration, illustrations and music to be perfectly realized, but it is to my great disappointment that not all of the 24 chapters of this story are illustrated, including the scene when Dorothy first encounters the poppies – a favorite moment of mine from childhood, as well as a missed opportunity to show these flowers in their grand colors with their sedating abilities.

Likewise, within the adapted version, I found the telling of the second half of the journey – after Dorothy misses her ride home on the hot air balloon and the gang needs to go in search of the Good Witch of the South – to be rushed in its re-telling. It also does not include chapter 20, The Dainty China Country – my true favorite chapter of the story as a child, where Dorothy and the others venture into a world of fragile characters made of china – another missed opportunity to have users break these china characters with a tap. I also would have wished this adapted version to go into better details about the Hammer-Head characters also met among these chapters – briefly mentioned without being named.

Although I did find the lack of an illustration for every chapter in this book to be a disappointment, as the unabridged section is also without these same illustrations, I am quite enamored with the pictures that are included – wonderful artwork that adds a sophistication to this story which I enjoy, maintaining the darker tone from the original story for a slightly older child – something that is sometimes sanitized in other re-tellings. Also nice is the inclusion of the forward written by author L. Frank Baum as well as a map to show the four different lands of Oz, a nice touch.

Although I would certainly prefer for each of these chapters to be represented by illustrations, this app is still quite enjoyable, especially to listen to the shorter storybook being read, and for this reason, even with the nagging omissions included, this is an app that I can recommend, especially to those who are not Oz purists who would certainly be disappointed by the lack of illustrations per each chapter and the overly abridged second half of this epic tale.

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Falling Wall is a delightfully quirky universal logic game for children by the developers at Busythings.

From what I can gather from the lack of reviews in general for Busythings apps, I believe that the public by and large has not been exposed to the terrific, wonderfully animated Busythings educational apps that are often excellent at teaching spatial awareness and problem solving.

Such is the case in Falling Wall – a novel approach to having children flex their reasoning and spatial awareness skills. Pink men and yellow worms need to be moved to the holes in a wall soon to be knocked down by a monkey who is itching to press the plunger of dynamite that will send the wall flat onto the ground. If the men and worms have been positioned where the holes will fall, the level will be solved and the characters will dance for joy at being saved. If players place these characters in the wrong area, however, they will be crushed with their heads, making fantastical dents into the wall.

I appreciate how the wall is broken into panels that correlate to the checkerboard pattern seen on the ground. Moving the characters around the ground will in turn highlight the area of the ground where the character has been placed to greatly help players fully understand the placement of these men or worms for the best outcome, but even with this helpful detail, this game is harder than it looks.

Four different levels of difficulty are included which offer players a chance to explore grids 2X2 to a 5X5 board that allows for men and worms to hide in holes found anywhere among the 25 included panels, and it is good to know that this game is randomized – great for re-play.

I also smitten by all the whimsical details that are included in Falling Wall, such as the dynamite plunger raising a bit after each character is placed on a tile. When the positioning is complete, tap on the monkey who will count down from three before knocking down the wall, fist-pumping after causing the explosion. If successful, the characters will dance in their holes, popping up and out of the wall with enthusiasm. If positioned wrong, instead of a head popping safely through the hole, a crack in the wall can be seen where the head becomes crushed. Also note the helicopter with giant claw removing the fallen wall as well as the characters parachuting down, returning for their turn once more.

I delight in all the details, sound effects and musical moments included, making this app rich with nuance to keep this game light and fun.

I can definitely recommend Falling Wall to be used both at school as well as a great game for parents to share with their children. This is a wonderful app for spatial reasoning, making it a terrific educational app disguised as a kids’ game.

Do check out the other Busythings titles both in iTunes as well as the reviews posted here at GiggleApps. Busythings apps have so much to offer that parents and teachers will be remiss if they don’t check out this UK-based developer.

Art, By Age Range, By App Feature, Creativity, Just For Fun, Preschool, Primary School, Puzzle, Reviews

I am excited to introduce readers to a new maze app by GiggleUp, Preschool Maze 123. As the name may imply, is a delightful maze app for preschool children – a lovely companion app to their other lovely maze app, Toddler Maze 123.

This app opens up to a boy and girl characters who need help finding their way down a yellow road lined with different maze choices. To select, drag these characters along the path to an area of interest, or just tap to select.

Children will notice the very nice level of difficulty these mazes have to offer, with some very novel elements sometimes added, such as needing to first follow the maze to a baby penguin that one must collect to continue on to the end of this penguin-themed maze, gather up a key before opening the treasure chest at the end of a pirate-themed activity or a super cute photo safari as one needs to maneuver one’s way to cameras to take animal photos before completing this cute section.

Also unique are the mazes themselves, as one views these mazes from a bird’s eye view as players drag a new character who may need to follow the dotted lines of a pirate maze, styled like a treasure map, a maze up in the sky as one navigates between billowy clouds or even through the glass maze of test tubes in a chemistry-themed maze, complete with colors to collect and mix before ending this mini-game.

Each section is bright and colorful, containing different yet always cheerful music to accompany each app.

I genuinely enjoyed seeing what fun details each new theme would contain as well as the surprise hot spots found along the way, adding richness to the experience but never to the point of distraction.

I think the difficulty level of these mazes is spot on for preschool children, possibly even a little older into kindergarten or even the early grade school years as I enjoyed them myself.

These mazes do get progressively harder as one follows the path discovering new characters who star in each of these themes, but the music and warm, friendly style of this app create a calm, relaxed tone that let children work on these mazes at their own pace without any stresses involving scores or best times to beat.

Likewise, I appreciate that although a star is given to show that one has completed the area, a better time would not gain the two or three stars often found in other apps, nor are sticker prizes given. I sometimes feel dubious about needing to constantly reward children for finishing a game, as the app itself should be engaging enough that children will want to continue based on the quality of the game itself. Such is the case here.

I do also very much enjoy the ending of this app as all the characters met along the way sit together for a picnic – a scene that is charming to be sure and a very nice reward for completing this application.

Mazes are great for hand and eye coordination, problem solving and fine motor skills. This is a maze app that will delight children and their parents, content rich and lovingly styled and thoughtfully designed.

I have been a huge fan of GiggleUp apps for quite some time. They are uniformly of a very high quality as well as brightly colored with quite whimsical details. Do check out their prolific list of apps on iTunes. I am eager to see what new apps they develop next.

Art, By Age Range, By App Feature, Just For Fun, Preschool, Primary School, Puzzle, Reviews

Snow Queen by the developers at Timecode is a very nice adaptation of the Hans Christian Andersen story of the same name – a lengthy tale traditionally told over seven stories.

I am impressed by how this app also is broken into seven stories to create a thorough version of this classic story – nice to see as many times the Snow Queen is abridged, and oftentimes without the back story of how the magic mirror, which makes all things beautiful look ugly, is produced here by a goblin. It is this mirror, when broken, also negatively affects the people who get imbedded by these shards, making them see and feel as though everything around them is ugly as well.

This is a favorite story of mine as a child, as the idea of being manipulated this way by parts of a broken mirror affected me a great deal, and I am glad to have access to a version that is not shortened or watered down for children, as this version can also be enjoyed by adults, including Andersen fans who have certain expectations from adaptations of his work.

Effective narration is included which I have enjoyed listening to. Although the text is read a little quickly, I don’t believe that this narration is hard to understand or to follow as the sentences are highlighted – a nice touch that differs from the word-for-word highlighting that some books include.

Illustrations are also included – hand-painted and lush with details. It is worth noting that although a smaller illustration is included on the top of each page of text, a beautiful, full page illustration is found after ever page or two, making this not primarily a picture book but a very nice version of this story for an older child who can sit and listen for a good length of time.

Interactions are activites also included adding some fun yet minimal sounds and animations to the illustrations. I appreciate how a hint button is included showing where to tap to find hotspots or how to interact in different ways that children will enjoy, but are not the main selling point of this application.

Parents of older grade school children will be happy to introduce the Show Queen via this application, be it listening to the narration, reading this book out loud themselves, or by children reading this tale to themselves.

I do wish, however, that a table of contents were available in case a family does not have time to complete all seven stories, and it is unfortunate that if this app is closed, the space where readers left off is not saved. Because of this, it is good to know that this app, if left running on the iPad, will open to the page currently being read.

Although I recommend this app now as very nice storytelling, complete with beautiful artwork and lovely background music, being able to bookmark a page as well as a table of contents would be worthwhile inclusions for a future update.

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The Adventures of Captain Underpants is a very nice adaptation of the book of the same name – a popular choice among grade school children.

I can remember learning how to read in school, mainly how bored I was by the early reader titles that were made available. Although not specifically “Dick and Jane,” the stories I remember were so simplistic, uninteresting and genteel that they were on the verge of being condescending, without any humor or action to keep me engaged.

Because of this, I am always on the look out for beginner books that will keep my son interested when he begins to read books longer than sparsely worded picture books.

For this reason, I have been eager to share The Adventure of Captain Underpants with him for quite some time as I bought many of these books used from this series from our local library when he was a baby.

The Adventures of Captain Underpants is a cheeky story about two friends who love to pull pranks at school as well as writing comic books, especially The Adventures of Captain Underpants, about a super hero who actually flies around in his underwear.

Things become complicated for the boys when they are caught pulling pranks at their school by their principal, who blackmails them until they are able to hypnotize their principal, yet things take a turn for the worse as the principal takes on the persona of Captain Underpants.

There is a lot that I appreciate about the digitization of this book, as here the story is told in full color instead of the black and white used in my copy of the paperback edition. Even with the color added to these illustrations, the images and text remain the same. Yet very good narration is included which I enjoy a great deal.

The words are not highlighted when read which I find acceptable as most children ready for this story should be able to read along with the text without highlighting assistance.

What I especially like about the narration provided is that different voices are used when dialogue is spoken, breaking up the page a bit to keep kids interested, as well as the slight but effective use of ambient sounds found among these pages. The narration can also be turned off if parents would like to read this book to their children or children to themselves.

Comic Pages are also included that can be enlarged for easier reading, yet are included without narration – good to know if parents want their non-readers to enjoy this book by themselves as they will need help deciphering these panels.

I am grateful that this app does not contain any hotspots to interact with that would become distracting, but there are fun moments where the details from each page move across the screen as the pages are turned for a very nice effect.

I am also happy that this app does save the page one was reading last as well as allowing one to search by chapter to find the menu of pages that one would will then use to find a specific page as a reference.

I also really love how the flip-o-rama pages are included, maintaining the low-tech look from the publisher’s copy originally allowing children to flip back and forth between pages to make a cute but crude animated flip book.

My only note is about the included mini-games found both within the story and the ability to select these games from the main page of this app as they are simple and mainly arcade-styled shooting where one tips the iPad to move one’s character while shooting at targets – much like Space Invaders.

It would have been nice if these games were a little less sophomoric – an almost hypocritical request as a fan of The Adventures of Captain Underpants, but I would have appreciated games based more on logic or memory that will in some way serve children. As is, my only hesitation is that my son, if given the iPad to read this book by himself with the aid of narration, may spend his time playing these games intently – not a great use of screen time.

Luckily, there is an avatar maker and a variation on a sound board that allows children to mix different sounds found in this book – both exercises that allow children to be a little creative. Yet it unclear how the advanced functions of the sounds section work as well as the locked content – presumably for this game but I am not really sure.

As a child, I remember being able to borrow albums of books being read out loud that were not abridged in any way such as Alice in Wonderland, and this was the catalyst for me to read books of length on my own.

I enjoy being able to use this app to bridge the gap from my son listening to shorter storybooks on the iPad to a longer chapter book that we can both listen to and enjoy. I hope this app will pique his interest in reading the other books from this series as well.

Although The Adventures of Captain Underpants is not great literature, I don’t think it has to be as long as the book is fun and encourages an interest in reading.

I do think some children could feel overwhelmed by the length of the paperback, while a short read for adults and first chapter book can seem overwhelming to reluctant readers – not an issue with an application.

Some adults may not be fond of the potty and even poop humor found throughout this story making this an application that is not suitable for all families. I do appreciate this story not only for its silly humor but for its dramatic structure of including a cohesive beginning, middle and end, as well as the friendship between these boys, one caucasian and one non-caucasian and their love of writing comic books – a hobby I would be proud for my son to share.

For these reasons I am glad that The Adventures of Captain Underpants has been adapted into an app for iPad. I hope more popular chapter books will be developed as well, both by Scholastic as well as other publishers.

Art, By Age Range, By App Feature, Creativity, Just For Fun, Language, Primary School, Reading, Reviews, Stories

Alphabet is a charming and surprisingly sophisticated letters app for iPad that teaches words in a wonderfully unique way for a letters app.

From the opening of this application, it is easy to tell that it is something special with the cast of colorful and creative monster characters parading across the screen, playing different instruments in ways that are quite captivating.

The app store is filled with many apps of this genre, with each of the 26 letters from the alphabet represented by a corresponding word and often including a short animated clip to further the understanding of both the letter and the word.

The same can be said for Endless Alphabet, yet this app truly stands out in a sea of others with a wonderful sense of style and polish, with delightful monsters pantomiming each word after a short letter puzzle is completed, as the letters needed to make up each word need to be dragged and dropped back into their rightful places.

I love how one selects a word in Endless Alphabet as the menu of pages is found within the large, wide mouth of a blue monster. Scroll left or right to select a word, or tap the letter of interest, which is also available on this page.

The words here are intriguing as well. Instead of the typical “Apple” or “Queen,” words like “Alarm” or “Quarrel” are chosen to be represented, as well as “Bellow,” “Cooperate,” “Gargantuan,” “Nosy,” or “Odor,” giving children a chance to learn some large, expressive words that will serve them well as they get older.

I really enjoy the quality of music found within, and it always makes me smile to see the group of monsters rush past the word in question, knocking the letters out of place in order for users to put the letters back into place.

Also of note are the phonic sounds the individual letters make as they are tapped or dragged, truly bringing them to life in a very delightful and with half a nod towards the subversive in a way that I greatly appreciate.

The animated clips are genius in both their wit and whimsy as well as creative and a bit cheeky, as one monster representing “Itchy” feels the need to shave himself bare or a purple monster who licks the word “”lick” and to his surprise, is licked back.

The narration included which explains each word is great as well – clear and conversational – doing a marvelous job of explaining these words that young children or those whose English is a second language will learn from.

It is a nice touch that a word button is included so the definition can be heard more than once, but I wish the animation could be re-played as well because children are sure to want to re-watch their favorite word animations more than once.

I also believe that the phonic sounds created by the letters when tapped can have an issue of style over substance as these phonic sounds spoken can come across as language-neutral utterances to anthropomorphize these letters instead of articulate letter sounds to learn from and emulate.

Words with spoken silent “E’s” are included so the words are not a sum of the sounds that these letters make, leading to confusion. Other times it can be unclear exactly which letter sound the character is trying to convey as some of them, like “R” and “T,” are saying their letter name and then the phonic sound they make, to the point that my five year old son who has begun taking his reading and phonic sounds very seriously has asked me to turn off these letter sounds as he finds them annoying and distracting, unfortunately not possible within this app.

Although the concerns about the use of correct phonic sounds are concerning, I do not consider these issues fatal flaws with such wonderful animated clips dedicated to such strong vocabulary words.

My son likes this app as well and enjoys spending time with this app although it would be nice if I could have the option to have the letters simply say their name instead of struggling with the less-than-perfect phonic sounds – not possible at this time as there is no option to alter or silence the phonic sounds offered.

As this is an “Endless Alphabet,” I wish I had more information about how more words are to be included in this app, which I can only presume will be part of free updates, but this remains to be seen.

Although this app will not be considered the most useful app to explain true phonic sounds, Endless Alphabet will be an alphabet word app that will entertain adults and help children learn the basic letter names as well as advanced words to use in their everyday life, and for this reason it is easy for me to recommend as long as parents understand just what to expect from this bright, colorful application.

Art, By Age Range, By App Feature, Just For Fun, Language, Preschool, Primary School, Reviews, Toddlers

McElligot’s Pool is an early Dr. Seuss tale about the vivid imagination of a boy who fantasizes about the fish he may find in a polluted body of water said to be too dirty to support fishing.

Published in 1947, the style found in this book is a little different from the expected pen and ink used in other stories, instead using what to me looks like colored pencils or possibly water colors creating a softer look that I find interesting compared to the sharp lines I am used to in these storybooks.

The zooming and panning of these illustrations are included, typical of the adapted apps developed by Oceanhouse Media to draw the eye to different sections of the pages for visual interest, yet the softness of these images leads to what can momentarily look like resolution issues, as these pictures lack a crisp edge that leads to easy enlarging. Luckily, these moments go back fast and will not register for most children.

I do like a great deal, however, how the black and white illustrations also found in the book look on the backlit screen of the iPad and iPhone.

John Bell, my favorite narrator, is back – much to my delight. I love his narrations, always bringing life to the books he is a part of, especially here bringing so much wonderment as the boy in this story first describes how this pool could possibly be connected to a larger body of water, a possible source in which fish could live. The cadence is perfect as a boy with a vivid imagination speaking on his feet, stretching a story farther and farther the way my son, who also has a vast imagination, might.

This story contains parts with a fair amount of repetition and lacks the Dr. Seussian whimsical words which can actually make Dr. Seuss books hard to read for some, making this story a great early read for the intermediate reader who is up for a lengthy yet simple to read story. It is also quite helpful that if one chooses to silence the narration, words can still be heard with a tap, always nice for children who may feel stuck on certain words.

Also available is the chance to turn off the fun ambient sound effects which I personally always enjoy a great deal as well as the ability to tap objects in the pages to hear and see these words displayed.

New to these apps is the ability to share personal narrations between those who each own this application.

McElligot’s Pool is a Seuss story which may be less known than some of his other titles but is worth checking out. I look forward to see what other Seuss titles are to be adapted into applications in the future as well.

Art, By Age Range, By App Feature, Creativity, Language, Preschool, Primary School, Reading, Reviews, Stories, Toddlers

Cat Doorman’s Little Red Wagon is a lovely application for small children – part songbook, part open-ended adventure. This app will delight all ages including parents with the use of truly beautiful illustrations and cute, fun interactive moments.

This app brings the classic folk song “Little Red Wagon” to life as children help a girl dragging a little red wagon behind her to gather up foods for a picnic.

Pantomimed verses include visiting a bakery, dairy, garden and orchard, concluding with a delightfully offbeat picnic with the girl and her lovingly anthropomorphized animal guests devouring the food in a way that made me smile a great deal.

I am quite smitten with the look of this app, hand-painted by singer songwriter Cat Doorman, also known as Portland-based artist Julianna Bright.

Rich with colors and a nod to a vintage look, there is a lot to discover among these scenes that babies, toddlers and even their older siblings will delight in. There are many open-ended details one can explore as well as the more story-driven interactions such as dragging and dropping foods such as bread from the bakery, pulling apples from trees or beets from the ground and filling up the wagon to share with animal friends.

The musical element in this app is nice as well, as this traditional song is also sung by Doorman, complete with the sheet music seen at the bottom of the page that scrolls through as the song is played and sung, creating a songbook that those familiar with the music will enjoy for themselves as well as sharing with their children, allowing readers to also sing along karaoke-style.

It is nice that one can choose to have the band use only the piano to play this song as well as a full band and a guitar choice. I do wish that there were more options here, such as other instruments like a fiddle, heard faintly during the guitar selection, percussion or banjo, possibly mixing multiple instruments to hear the differences one can create.

If this app were to be judged as an early music app, there would be more that this app could offer children. I do think that the storybook aspect will be best appreciated by families with musical backgrounds as there is not a lot to explain regarding what is being seen in terms of how the sheet music corresponds to the song being sung. I prefer to look at this app as a sweetly sung folk song with wonderful art and interactions as these elements are top-notch.

As for the song itself, all well as the art included within, this app contains a certain timelessness that will appeal many different parents including those interesting in home schooling and others still on the fence about sharing technology with their children, and for these reasons, I can recommend Cat Doorman’s Little Red Wagon.

Art, By Age Range, By App Feature, Creativity, Just For Fun, Music, Preschool, Reviews, Toddlers

Rounds: Parker Penguin is a delightful universal app that nicely blends elements of Life Sciences into the story of penguin life in Antarctica, the second in a series of Rounds apps from Nosy Crow.

Rounds: Parker Penguin wonderfully captures the life cycle of these creatures from birth to procreation, depicting three generations of offspring.

There are two basic ways of exploring Rounds: Parker Penguin. In Read and Play, follow along with highlighted text as one listens to narration. Tap the screen to interact with surroundings, especially looking for blue dots used to highlight interactive hotspots, also keeping in mind that Parker and other characters may also speak if touched.

In Read to Myself, the use of sound effects and music are still included, but the text is silenced allowing children to read to themselves, including the added dialogue of the penguins, now seen only as speech bubbles.

I really appreciate all the polish that has been included within the Rounds apps, as the interactions bring not only richness to this story but their actions often propel the narrative and are never random or distracting in any way and sometimes going beyond a tap or drag to create wonderful moments which add important facts or details to this application.

The palette used of blue, white and shades of grey captures Antarctica beautifully, as do the stylized illustrations with a heavy use of circles and half circles that I have come to expect from the Rounds series.

I admire the slow pacing of this app, as children will need to take their time allowing moments to unfold, tapping characters more than once to hear extra penguin facts. The included musical score, sound effects and whale sounds found within the ocean all work together to create a thoroughly relaxing experience children and adults will enjoy a great deal.

Although one can turn the pages at any time, this function is asleep and needs to be tapped twice to forward the pages before everything has been explored within, then becoming black and bouncing, letting readers know it is safe to turn the page – an inclusion I greatly appreciate.

As gentle as this app is, children will also have a lot of fun with the speed Parker can slide or swim, yet maintaining the serene environment – an element that has mild arcade elements while sustaining a relaxing tone. Likewise, I enjoy helping Parker feed, as he swims after little fish yet avoids larger fish who may also be hungry, nicely touching upon predator and prey in a way that is sensitive and age-appropriate.

As this app progresses, Parker grows into an adult and goes on a march looking for a mate. I love the music and dance used to express the mating ritual of these animals as well as the egg passing made famous by the movie March of the Penguins.

When it is time, help the egg hatch with a tap, learning about baby penguins along the way as this new penguin grows into adulthood as well, mating and becoming a father himself.

Three generations of penguins are included with different names but same life experiences as this app cycles over to great effect. I do wish, however, that parents had a choice to end the app after three generations if they choose to in order to create an endpoint often found helpful in reining in their children, especially at bedtime.

Even with this mild note, Rounds: Parker Penguin will be a wonderful addition to any digital library. The writing is thoughtful and is quite conversational, delivering facts about penguins that will stay with children for a long time.

I have also greatly enjoyed the first app in this series Rounds: Franklin Frog. I hope to see more of these apps in the future as they are top-notch in every way and are screen time that adults can feel good about.

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