SOCKPLANET—AN INTRODUCTION

The first in a proposed series about a world made from lost socks, this first entry feels less like a narrative and more like a sales brochure for a tale you'll want to skip. It lacks many of the standard niceties that many iPad stories have (narration, navigation or any kind of interactivity besides slide-show–like page transitions) without offering an engaging first chapter to make up for the lack of features. The planet itself, a fuzzy, sock-puppet–populated place where "the floor is like a duvet and houses are made from shoe boxes," is made up of blocky computer art and, for too many pages, white backgrounds that suggest either a lack of imagination or missed deadlines. But the most unfortunate part of SockPlanet (apart from the thought of all those missing socks we've lost) is that its introductory entry is really just a list of species, customs and characters, with no story to accompany them. It's strangely ambitious cart-before-the-horse writing, as if J.K. Rowling had published her Harry Potter books as a series of outlines and glossary notes. SockPlanet may turn out to be an interesting place to visit, but its first view from Earth shows it needs better knitting. (iPad storybook app. 3-7)