THE BRAVE LITTLE TAILOR
(reviewed on February 15, 2011)
The traditional story of the pint-sized tailor's apprentice who defeats "seven in one blow" (house flies, it turns out, not giants who are terrorizing his town) is attractively presented as part of the StoryChimes series of apps. With bright illustrations, very clear navigation and options and good character voices and narration, it's quite promising. But the whole production swats itself with some errors (“laying” used incorrectly; the tailor’s voice says, “foilage,” where the text correctly reads, “foliage”; a giant "[takes] hold of the topmost branch" and "pull[s] them downward”). The illustrations, which are nicely colored and expressive, have some jagged edges in the line work; it's unclear if this is an artistic choice or the result of a bad digital conversion or scan. They are, moreover, quite modern in style, contrasting oddly with the stately, at times archaic text ("the giants went into the wood," instead of the more conventional "forest"). The app is otherwise quite nice to look at and was clearly put together with careful attention to presentation and style; it's a shame the text doesn't read as if it was given the same amount of nurturing. (iPad storybook app. 3-7)
