Thursday, January 15, 2015

Storm & Skye and the Secret of the Car Wash


Storm & Skye and the Secret of the Car Wash is the prettiest app I have ever seen. The producers describe it as "the first episode of a series of illustrated, animated and beautifully narrated audio stories." To be clear, this is not a digital storybook, because there is no visible text. It is disappointing to me that my beginning readers can't follow along with some words at the bottom of the page. But the designers clearly had other priorities... As I said, the artwork is gorgeous. The story and narration are also captivating. Storm and Skye are young children, facing their fears about life in general and battling dragons in the car wash.


Brooklyn loved the plot, and happily watched/listened to the entire 45-minute story (it's hard to pinpoint the right verb for this app--it is not fully animated, so it doesn't feel quite like watching a cartoon, but it's really not the same experience as listening to an audiobook either). But she has not come back to it in the two weeks since we first got it. There is no interaction in the app, and now that she finished the story, I think she is done with this episode. It's currently priced at $.99, so that may be a worth-while purchase anyway, especially if you buy it before a long car ride, but I usually prefer apps my kids will return to again and again.

Here is a trailer for the app: