Truly Great Noodle, The
© 2011 Grids Interactive
Featuring an original story and music with hot spots, this story by Sam Berman and Bonnie Bright consists of 17 pages full of hidden animations. The graphics and narration style is similar to The Living Books (the 1990s releases by Broderbund). In the story, Nate meets and tries to eat a never-ending noodle; an idea that will have instant appeal to any child who has ever tried a plate of spaghetti. The narration is presented in rhyme and the hot spots are comical, and, at times, rather unrelated to the story. Weaknesses to note might be an inability to toggle off the background music on each page. Some might find the frequent, authentic-sounding burps to be offensive. It is possible to record your own narration, although getting it to play in the context of the story is tricky. Reading scaffolding includes highlighted text. It is not possible to touch individual words to hear them read out loud. Other features include: Nate's Burp-O-Meter (you can record your own burp and give it a name) and nine original songs including "The Truly Great Noodle." As iPad-based ebooks go, this one is lacking in innovative features, but the story theme will appeal to some children.
$0.99, iPad
Teaches: reading
CTR Rating: 82%