Pango Christmas Book 5 Review

Pango Christmas Book 5 is a charming universal application about Pango, a raccoon and his friends as they experience new adventures - here revolving around Christmas activities.

Without narration, Pango Christmas Book 5 makes a great storybook to read to one’s children as the included text prompts children to explore this application in many ways interactive, as each page highlights a new motion word which the included interaction revolves around such as moving shoes or hanging balls under the Christmas tree or opening presents.

The style of narration to me is reminiscent of one of our favorite shows, Pocoyo, where an unseen narrator relates to both the audience as well as Pocyo and the other characters in this popular children’s TV show. This app engages the child listening to this story, asking them to participate as children are guided through these activities.

The look of Pango Christmas Book 5 is quite different from Pocoyo, as this app includes simple, stylized, hand-drawn qualities devoid of computer graphics in this colorful children’s app.

Children will also enjoy the five different scenes included in this app, each nicely separated by easily accessible tabs that children will enjoy tapping.

I understand the intent of having adults reading to children and the Pango series, from what I have seen, are great choices for this as the story lines contain witty humor that adults will appreciate as much as their children will - quite desirable from the point-of-view of adults to be sure. I can’t help, however, but think that listening to narration would also be a thoughtful choice for children who would like to enjoy Pango stories when having alone-time with their devices.

Do note that although this is Book 5, those new to this series will not feel as though they are missing much back story between characters, and it is also possible to download Pango Book 1 free - a full app, not a light version - which will allow adults to understand what these apps have to offer.

I give developer Julien Akita credit for this decision to create a free book that people can download to get a taste of Pango instead of making his apps free with in-app purchases - a trend that I personally don’t find appealing.

Pango Christmas is a lovely interactive app that includes readers in the storytelling in ways children and their adults will find most engaging. For this reason, it is easy for me to recommend Pango Christmas Book 5.