LOOPY LOST HIS LETTUCE

A crocheted calico snail loses sight of a coveted head of lettuce and must creep through a tremendously laborious story to try and find it.

Loopy the snail and Mumma Butterfly are fashioned from a wide variety of yarns—fuzzy, smooth and patterned textures in an assortment of vibrant colors. In fact, crocheted creatures and surroundings populate every illustration. They’re creative and cute. All of the other app components, however, are significantly lacking. The story, read by a sweet enough but monotone-voiced Australian girl, is told in pedestrian rhyme that regularly strong-arms the narrative to fit the meter. Not only are the page transitions and animations—well, snaillike, the story lumbers on and on. Just when he thinks he’s going to find his lettuce, poor Loopy has to help other creatures with their tasks—games that range from endurable to mind-numbing—before they’ll help him with his. The difficulty-level options at the app’s launch correspond with the games, not the text. Tap-activated interactions perform fine (though they’re often repetitive and dull), but the tilt and shake features are often inconsistent and frustratingly slow. By the time Loopy finds his lettuce, readers will have gotten a visual tutorial of the seasons and a few gratuitous interactive thrills, but they might also be covered in cobwebs.

This yarn could definitely use a tighter weave.