APP REVIEW: Jumbo Book – Bo’s Rainbow (episode 1)

The first thing that strikes you about Jumbo Book is the great design. Bo the elephant definitely lives in a world that is easy on the eyes.

Bo The Elephant

As you might expect from the title of this app, it’s a children’s book built for the iPhone. It features a cute little elephant, Bo, and follows his adventures as he meets up with all of his friends. Bo’s friends are really quite something — they all have amazing talents. His friend the monkey can climb, his friend the dolphin can swim, his friend the bird can fly and his friend the mole can dig – none of which Bo knows how to do. Understandably, he finds this a bit disappointing.

Bo Despairs Over His Lack of Talent

Thankfully, Bo’s mom enters the picture at this point and explains to him that he too has a special talent — he can make rainbows.

Bo the Elephant

That’s the gist of the story, which works for me as a kids narrative. I like the idea of helping kids understand that they are all special in their own way and that they all have something unique to offer the world.

The only challenge for me with this app is that it doesn’t really hold my two year-old’s attention. She likes the music, and the voiceovers that narrate story helped engage her, but she has become accustomed to interacting in a more immersive way than this app allowed. She was looking for Wheels on the Bus touch interactivity — which is a critical part of the iPhone experience, even for its littlest users. Jumbo Book essentially allows you to flip from page to page — and does so in a slick page turning fashion, but there’s not much else you can do to interact with it. That’s not the biggest problem in the world – there is after all, a lot to be said for good old fashioned books – but it does seem a shame not to take advantage of some of the magic that the iPhone allows for. My hope is that Episode 2 builds on the solid design foundation established here and expands the concept to allow for a bit more interactivity.

That said, if you are on the lookout for a great kids book with excellent music that you can carry around in your pocket, this app is a keeper — you can get it here.