THE LITTLE WITCH AT SCHOOL

Slacker elf classmate in tow, a young student witch takes final exams in this involved set of number, memory and word games.

Receiving lengthy instructions from teacher Miss MacSpider as she goes, the little witch negotiates five tests with readers’ help. These include coloring in a paint-by-matching-numbers portrait and navigating a “concentration”-type maze through an ogre’s stomach. Witch and readers are also quizzed on general knowledge (“What animal roars?”) by a grumpy “genealomagic” tree. Ultimately, she passes by bringing her “cuddly toy” bat to life and then turns a rude classmate into a toad. An optional multivoice audio track in English or French is animated enough to compensate, mostly, for a text that only appears a few lines at a time and for the figures’ twitchy undulations, fixed expressions and unnatural gestures in the cartoon illustrations. Each screen features multiple pans and dissolves, plus any number of incidental tap-activated transformations or sound effects. The tests in the tale (and more in a separate “Surprise” section) are available at three selectable levels of difficulty (the question above is rated “Medium”).

Forced of animation and perfunctory of plot but well-enough stocked with interactive features and challenges.