PUSS IN BOOTS

An undistinguished edition of the familiar tale, pairing a standard, lightly edited 19th-century text to a scanty assortment of grainy public-domain pictures.

Toned down—the cat doesn’t kill but only captures the prey he presents to the king; the ogre-turned-mouse skittering about the screen vanishes instantly with a touch and a "Thank You"—and slightly shortened, the story comes with small illustrations (on most but not all screens) that will display minor animations or size changes in response to a touch or noise. These are keyed by instructions like “hold Puss [sic] hand to bring out the rabbit” or “knock the door [sic] according to the Morse code indicated” (said code being an inscrutable “S • • •”). There is no audio narration, and the unidentified recording of the “1812 Overture” that serves as background music throughout switches suddenly for the final wedding scene to a funky percussive beat. Page turns are triggered by pulling the whiskers of a cat at the top of each page, which is a nice touch.

Amid the barrel full of Puss’ digital appearances, this one falls toward the bottom.