Cinderella - A Princess Story for iPone Review

Cinderella - A Princess Story for iPone from the developers at One Hundred Robots is a lovely retelling of the Charles Perrault classic tale of the same name. Options include listening to a narrator or reading to oneself. A menu is also available to help one find a specific page one may be looking for, always a nice touch. Music as well as hidden sound effects are nicely incorporated into this story book, and it is nice that they can be turned on or off independently of each other. “Virtual Character Cards” are included as well, much like baseball cards, which have additional information about these characters. More extras are planned for the future, including a matching game and a sing-along to be added at a later time. A version of this app is also available for iPad.

I do love the story of Cinderella. As I remember, it was my first book on record and I listened to it very often. To this day, whenever I hear the theme to Swan Lake, I think of Cinderella and I am happy to see that many developers have turned this classic tale into story book applications, typically adapting the well-known version by Charles Perrault which does not contain the darkness or graphic details of the Brothers Grimm version. I know both versions well and I am always interested to see how developers make this story their own, as I love to look at the grandeur that is the king's ball and all the other details included in this story.

This app does a lovely job of telling the tale of a girl who goes from being loved by family to becoming a mistreated stepdaughter, rising up from her situation with the help of a fairy godmother and the love of a prince. The narration is very well done here, as are the illustrations that are beautiful, colorful, and well-drawn. I appreciate that there is little animation used, so it really pops when it is introduced during Cinderella's transformation from disheveled to pristinely dressed and ready for the ball with the help of her fairy godmother. It is nice that many of these moments are designed to be interactive if the reader chooses, giving them the opportunity to use the godmother's magic wand in the interest of transforming such things as a pumpkin into a coach, or Cinderella's old shoes into glass slippers.

I appreciate that this story begins a bit earlier than most, introducing you to Cinderella as she was when her mother was alive and she had a happy life, also adding the information on how her father dies, leaving Cinderella alone with her hateful step-family. I like the addition of these details, as her back-story making Cinderella that much fuller of a character. I do try to shy away from exposing my son to the concept of the death of a parent, which is found commonly in classic fairy tales, but he seems none the worse for being exposed to this here as they don’t dwell on this point. I also enjoy the fact that at the end you see Cinderella many years later, happily married with a daughter of her own, this story coming full circle and ending in a way that is very satisfying.

This book also sets itself off from other versions of this story seen in app form because much of the page-turning does not cut it to different scenes of the story, but instead draws you through what would be considered to be a continuous take if this were a film, a very nice effect. Hidden sounds can be found which can include extra dialogue or ambient sounds, as well as other effects that add detail to this tale and some nice interactions are included as well, but what I especially like is the classical music used here. It does a great job of setting the tone of the story, changing as the mood of the story does and keeps the pace flowing in this lengthy storybook. This all makes the music a very effective element in the storytelling, especially when the book is read by oneself.

“Virtual Character Cards” are also a part of this app where one can read more about a specific character. The tone of these cards is quite a departure from the book itself, which is a serious adaptation of the story, as these cards are very tongue-in-cheek, parodying such things as American Idol or The Apprentice, which was a little too topical for my taste, but definitely humor that some adults or grade school children will enjoy. Some interesting facts are also incorporated into these cards, which I do like.

All in all, this is a very good variation of this classic tale that kids preschool thru grade school will enjoy. I hope One Hundred Robots continues to make such high quality children’s apps.