The Monsters Inc. Storybook Deluxe

My preschooler was home sick today, so I decided to finally bite the bullet and buy the Monsters, Inc.Storybook Deluxe by Disney. And I have to grudgingly admit that it's not a terrible ebook. Understand that this is faint praise. I bought the app because the poor girl was on the couch, moaning and groaning, and I expected this to be a half-hour distraction (and that it happily was!) But I've written elsewhere about how dubious I was that an app with this iTunes description could actually be much of a literacy experience:

Description

***Unlock content for the Monsters University Storybook Deluxe app!
***Relive the incredible story of the highly acclaimed film classic Disney•Pixar Monsters, Inc.
***Find hidden Scare cards throughout the story!
***Fun Game: Navigate your way through a Monsters, Incorporated scare simulator training room to collect scream energy!
***Surprisingly fun personalized features, based on your own screaming and roaring abilities!

FEATURES:
•Retelling of the film Disney•Pixar Monsters, Inc. with read-along text and full narration!
•Hear quotes from the actual film as you tap on your favorite characters!
•Look for clues to find and collect Scare cards that include pictures of your favorite monster Scarers, along with their scaring stats!
•Includes short animated clips from the original film!

I'm no Luddite (could a Luddite keep this blog?), but my head implodes at the thought of a future in which children chose which "book" to read based on the movie clips included and/or how loudly they're encouraged to scream at the screen. That said, Brooklyn cared about none of this. She can't yet read, so she wasn’t seduced by the marketing materials on iTunes. She was interested in purchasing the app because she likes the movie—we both do. The writing in the original movie is clever, and the characters are really fun. I only hoped that some of their personality would come through in this “storybook deluxe.”

The first thing that happens when you open the app is an introduction that explains Monstropolis is a city powered by human screams; “monsters everywhere depend on you!” You’re encouraged to scream in order to unlock the fun and games. At this, Brooklyn screamed half-heartedly (but let’s allow that this might be more fun for a kid without a fever; I kind of wanted to scream myself). Once unlocked, the choices are to READ or PLAY. The READ option is the ebook. And this is where Brooklyn spent quite a while listening to the story attentively, with the text-highlighting on. Once the story had finished, she went back to the home screen and tried the PLAY option, which was a game in which you tilt the iPad back and forth to maneuver Sully through a child’s bedroom without touching any of the child’s things (because, you know, contamination) and then roar as loudly as possible at the child simulator. This only proved mildly fun, mostly because the technology doesn’t quite work as well as we wanted it too; neither one of us was able to avoid the obstacles with much finesse. Later in the evening, when my two-year-old got home, Brooklyn was eager to share the app with her sister, but it was the storybook, not the games, she wanted to show her.

So I said up top that this isn’t a terrible ebook. But that doesn’t mean that it’s quality children’s literature either. What’s the difference, you ask? Well, it’s not always easy to identify either one. But here is what I look for in a quality print book… strong writing, interesting language, subject matter that draws the child in, and developmentally appropriate themes.  Strong writing means the traits that we teach: things like an identifiable voice (think Olivia), sentence fluency so that it trips off the tongue when you read it out loud (Dr. Seuss), and well-developed ideas (the Harry Potter series). Interesting language means using just the right word at just the right time. The best children’s books introduce interesting words effortlessly, so that the children are not endlessly asking, “What does that mean, again?” It doesn’t mean always using a fancy synonym… But what would Where the Wild Things Are be without the “wild rumpus”? And, of course, even if the writing and language is strong, the book has to speak the children: it has to be about something they care about.

In this case, the monsters (as they were created for the screen) are funny and loveable characters who are engaged in an elemental fear of all children: scaring them in the dark. What could be better? Lots, it turns out. This ebook is a straight synopsis of the movie. The writers try to encapsulate everything from the 95 min movie into a 35-page book. It barely makes sense even if you've seen the movie; it is nowhere near as funny or as clever as the movie. Worst of all, the characters have none of the personality, and Brooklyn could barely keep the plot straight (on one of the first pages the Child Detection Agency is introduced and the acronym CDA first used; later they are referred to only as the CDA and Brooklyn asked me “What’s that mean, again?”) In general, a good rule of thumb when looking for quality children’s literature is to stay away from movie tie-ins. There are exceptions, of course… Shrek, for example, began as an excellent book, before it was an excellent movie. But this is a disappointment in terms of literature. In terms of entertainment, well, Brooklyn looked happy enough.

Part of what might have entertained her are the positive digital features to this ebook. In my opinion, what Disney did really well in developing this interactive storybook is in the development of the ebook itself. The term “ebook” can really mean anything these days, from a PDF of the printed book, to essentially a cartoon. Minimally, I think an interactive storybook that I download from iTunes has to have illustrations on a screen with an oral reading of the text and some hotspots to click on here and there. Animations, zooming in and out, musical scores, sound effects, text highlighting, built-in dictionaries, hotspots where the reader clicks to interact with a character or object, foreign language translations, voice recognition, tilting and shaking of the physical machine, built-in games and the option to record my own voice can all be nice additions. Or they can be distractions, depending on the design of the app and the reader.  Good ebooks need to manage all of these digital features in a fashion that is workable for developing readers. That is, the kids need to be able to focus on the text, first and foremost. And the digital features need to support the story.

The Monsters Inc. Storybook Deluxe actually does this really well. The text is off-set from the illustrations and highlighted word-by-word as it is read, so that the child is looking solely at the text for as long as it is read, and then can swipe to see the full illustration. Once the text has been read, flashing symbols indicate where the hotspots are that uncover new parts of the illustration, supporting the child’s comprehension. Although Brooklyn enjoyed the professional narration, including some of the actors from the movie, another nice extra that is available is that there is an option to record your own voice reading the text. Older children might benefit from the fluency practice of recording themselves and listening to their own playback. With such a long storybook, I also personally enjoyed the dropdown menu at the top that allowed us to choose any page to jump to at any time. And best of all was the separation of the READ and PLAY features. There was no need to scream or roar at anyone while reading the ebook.

While I wish the book itself was better (and at $6.99 I can’t really recommend the app to anyone), I can say that Disney has some pretty smart app designers on board. I just hope they come up with some more interesting projects in the future.