In a wordless gallery that is severely deficient in sexual and racial diversity, 12 cartoon figures model as many professions.
Differing only in hairstyle and outfit (except for a dark-skinned clown, the sole nonwhite character), each small, generic exemplar floats on a cream-colored screen, with characteristic tools or vehicles that are rendered as toys on right and left. Tapping sets off a gesture and a chuckle or other brief sound effect, after which a second tap will activate a second, repeatable, set of different ones. Aside from large buttons leading to the App Store at the end and the customary links to social media, that’s it for interactive features. Though most of the professions are signaled clearly enough—the construction worker leans on a pile driver, the chef flourishes a saucepan, the artist wears a beret—the medical professional examining a plush “patient” (the only recognizably female model) is more ambiguous, and both the police officer and the firefighter sport British-style headgear. There is no thumbnail index to make skipping around possible.
A nonstarter, too limited of cast, jobs and gender options to compete with Taro Muira’s Tools (2006) or Kathryn Heling’s and Deborah Hembrook’s Clothesline Clues to Jobs People Do (2012). (iPad toddler app. 1-3)
