Price: $1.99


Download on iTunes

Fey Mouse Review

Our Review

Fey Mouse is an interactive picture book based on the title of the same name, developed by Blue Quoll as the first in their series of Australian Vintage Picture Books, adapting out-of-print titles and making them accessible to children from around the world.

Fey Mouse is the story of a cat born into a mouse family, misunderstood by distant relatives and living in the shadow of their successful lives.

The illustrations are simply gorgeous to look at with an effective use of presumable zooming and panning of the original illustrations, lush with tactile details such as Fey Mouse’s pink fur as well as a fun, jazzy score played throughout this app.

Although charming and rich with nuance, I can’t help but think this beautiful story is a little sad as Fey Mouse has from birth been labeled as ”strange” and is the black sheep in this famous family of mice. Each relative has an interesting back story that Fey Mouse does not fit into, including how Fey Mouse is sprayed with mouse perfume that her mother invented to cover up her “catty” smell.

I can imagine children asking why the family members were allowed to be mean to Fey Mouse, and it will be up to the parents to create their own explanation, yet I did find it moving as her beloved mouse parents held their child and tearfully said it was time for Fey Mouse to leave the family in order to make a life for herself, which Fey Mouse does, finding a place among other cats, and changing her name to something more appropriate.

Narration is included by this book’s author Hazel Edwards, and although she is not a professional voice actor, Edwards brings a lot of nuance to her reading about this cat and her melancholy family situation. I also appreciate how even while reading this app to oneself, the paragraphs can be tapped to hear a nice inclusion for new readers.

Sound effects are included as well as added lines of dialogue – both spoken as well as seen as speak bubbles found with a tap of these characters.

This inclusion has both moments of added richness such as hearing Fey Mouse purr as well as times that this interactivity becomes problematic as the added dialogue or sounds can sometimes overlap the narration as well as being distracting. The rock star mouse who sings “This isn’t love” as part of a song lyric and the sounds of the instruments being played may be enjoyed by some while others may find them loud – especially in the context of this gentle tale.

Even having said this, Fey Mouse is a lovely story written with sophistication and illustrated with great beauty and detail. I am glad this book has been given a new life as an app for iPad, allowing children who otherwise would never have heard of Fey Mouse to do so.

I look forward to new Blue Quoll apps in the future, be it from the series of re-told fairy tales or as new Australian Vintage Picture Books as well.

dataMarch 12th, 2013 by Amy Solomon Share

Application Detail

Fey Mouse

Fey Mouse


Download on iTunesDeveloper: Blue Quoll
Released: 2013-02-23 00:00:00
Price: $1.99

Description from the Developer

SPECIAL LAUNCH SALE PRICE *0.99* for the first 24h!!

Discover the Australian vintage gems of children’s book literature.

We look for out-of-print vintage gems of Australian children's book literature and breath new life into them by making them accessible on the iPad and iPhone at an incredible price.

We carefully restore the vibrance of faded colors using digital post-processing and we ask the authors to read their stories for us, finally, we package everything in a gorgeous BookApp that is ready to be enjoyed in full retina resolution on the iPad and iPhone.

The Story

Fey Mouse is the story of a large and clumsy cat born into a family of highly talented mice. It’s a story about acceptance and coping successfully with being different. Fay Mouse was originally published in 1988 by Nelson and printed also in Middle East and Asia as it was chosen for richness of language and illustrations.

Fey Mouse is authored by Hazel Edwards a beloved award winning Australian Author with more than 200 hundreds books under her belt and It’s illustrated by award winning artist Kilmeny Niland who illustrated, among other titles, the popular ‘An Aussie Night Before Christmas’ and ‘Two Bad Teddies’.

Hazel Edwards says about Fey Mouse:

A young reader emailed saying she wanted to be a ‘feymouse (famous) Arthur (author) ‘ when she grew up. So, I created a large and clumsy cat born into a highly talented family of mice. ‘Fey’ is an old style word which means quirky or unusual. And the unfortunate cult of the ‘celeb’ , of being famous for being famous, rather than solving a problem for others, has always intrigued me. ‘Fey’ is all of us. We can identify with gentle clumsiness and good intentions.

‘Feymouse’ is like my ‘There’s a Hippopotamus on Our Roof Eating Cake’ in that it has an enduring theme of compassionate support of a friend , and is deceptively simple but has symbolic sub text for adults too.

Features

- 1988 vintage children book restored to twentieth century digital splendour.
- Gorgeous illustrations by Kilmeny Niland at retina resolution.
- Narrated by its author Hazel Edwards.
- ‘Read to me’ or ‘Read it myself’ reading modes.
- PopUp Tap and discover interactivity on each page. Touch and find out what characters are thinking and saying, voiced by Hazel Edwards.
- Beautiful, kid friendly interface, swipe or tap.
- No Ads, No in App purchases, No kid unfriendly surprises.
- Background music can be adjusted or muted.
- Small digital fingerprint on the devices (less than 50mb).
- Universal App

If you want to know more about the Vintage Australian Book project or get in touch with us go to our website www.blue-quoll.com.

You can also follow us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/bluequoll to get to know us directly, watch projects evolving and taking shape, be the first to know about promotions and promo-codes giveaways.

Blue Quoll Digital
www.blue-quoll.com
www.facebook.com/bluequoll
More Apps by us - Mr Wolf and the Ginger Cupcakes | Puss in Boots the Great Adventure

Screenshots

(click screen shot to enlarge)