Leah And The Owl

Leah & The Owl
By:Playtend

         I absolutely cannot express how much I LOVE the book Leah and The Owl. This book is fully interactive. All of the pages are engaging and beautifully illustrated. I was more excited at some points than the children were. This is a story for anyone, young or old to fall in love with.

         Now, a little more about the app… It is a wonderful tale of a little girl who loves to read going through any normal day until the night comes. On the first few pages you see the girl carrying books and reading books where every time you touch a book something special will happen. Then the book shows a range of emotions that are hard to introduce and explain to young children but this does it so beautifully!!! It shows a child what I am crabby, I am scared and I am curious really look like to a child step by step. This one thing alone as an educator would have me acquire this book in a heartbeat as these are important emotions to teach our children.

         Back to the story again, at night Leah hears a “whoooo” sound and get very scared, you see her going through the range of emotions from scared to curious as she meets a new friend the owl. Now Owl and Leah go out and fly into the night sky together discovering many new things. Again all of these pages are wonderfully interactive and it gives even more meaning to each of them. On their way they see dolphins, crocodiles (that she jumps around), monkeys (that she swings with), an elephant (in which she slides), penguins (where she marches), lions (who she takes a nap with the cubs) and then she returns home. The beauty of these pages are the actions that are said are the exact actions that happen when clicking the pages which makes it more realistic for children, especially those with disabilities. They are not just plain words on the page, they are actions that you can see and understand.

         After the girl get home, she goes to sleep as the owl flies away. I love that is a child does not know the world, they can click on each word in the sentence and it will tell (speak) it to them. This narration in this book is wonderful. It is also a pleasure in the reading by myself mode since if you have trouble a child would have the ability to problem solve unfamiliar words by themselves. I love that it takes place in Leah’s eyes because it is a female child like voice narrating. It gives many opportunities for children to relate and learn. I think this is one of the best books overall I have seen because it has every aspect a good book app should have.

Reviewed By:

Frances