MOON SECRETS
(reviewed on February 15, 2011)
It opens with an eye-catching title page: A sleeping girl with blue hair floats gently on the water, wrapped in an orange leaf as ripples expand outward from below her. Inside, the unnamed girl who tells the story watches the moon from her telescope, surrounded by aeronautical clutter and funky wallpaper. "The moon is magic," she concludes after seeing clouds take bites of the moon and watching an astronaut have a picnic on its surface. While it ends abruptly after a story that is more a series of declarations than a plot, the app contains some striking touches. The small lens of the telescope can be moved around to focus on more parts of the sky on some pages. In others, hanging stars can be swung and photos reveal extra pages when touched. While the app could be accused of being art-designed within an inch of its life, its visuals are lovely and dreamlike, the narration is all-but-whispered and the case for the moon's beauty and mystery is convincing. It won't replace Goodnight Moon, but it does extend that book’s magic somewhat. The story exists in a free app called "TouchyBooks," through which individual storybooks, including this one, can be purchased and viewed. (iPad storybook app. 3-8)
