Monster's Socks
© 2012 Martin Hughes
This 12-screen adventure is about a child-like monster (who is not scary) who wakes up to discover that he has lost his socks. So he goes on an adventure that includes making a bridge, sailing a boat, and flying to the moon. The story resembles "Where the Wild Things Are" in some ways. Especially noteworthy: the way this title breaks away from typical page flips and lets you instead freely move forward or backward through the story. So it is possible to rewind if you want to see another scene again. In addition, there are simple interactive ingredients on each page. For example, you can unfold a bridge to help the Monster get across a stream, a process that is a bit tricky to learn the first time. Emerging reading experiences are supported by the narrated text blocks, combined with a highly responsive format that children will want to return to time after time. Testers found the monsters English voice to be "strange" (but he is, after all a monster). We did not test other language versions. The graphics are both tasteful and beautiful. Testers also did not care for the anticlimactic ending, where he simply wakes up and finds his socks. All in all this is a wonderful contribution to any virtual ebook shelf. Available in: English, Chinese, Czech, Dutch, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Swedish, and Turkish.
$2.99, iPad
Teaches: reading, causality, language experience
CTR Rating: 92%