A Fine Musician Review

A Fine Musician is a wonderful story book app for iPad, as this book combines beautiful hand drawings with creative interactions. Be sure to tap the paragraphs of text to hear the narration, and do tap the main character, plus other areas of the screen to explore various interactions. Choose a specific page if you wish from the menu at the bottom of the screen that gives the reader the chance to scroll though mini images of each page which fit together nicely as its own piece of artwork, well worth looking at. This fun rhyming story would also make a nice tale to read out loud to children or for older children to read by themselves.

My son and I thoroughly enjoyed this book! This is an original story developed for iPad, but it is the type of tale one could believe is traditional and passed down for many generations. With nuances of the Pied Piper, this story is about a musician who plays various instruments as he roams around a village, with many onlookers following to hear him play. I am very impressed with the quality of these illustrations, done by hand, giving this app a timeless quality that reminding me of stories my mother read to me out of a book that was also her's when she was a child.

Be sure to tap the musician, as he is lovingly hand-drawn and painted, it is very striking when he moves for the first time - my son really sat up and took notice. The combination of these graceful drawings alongside quite a few hidden animations that are both simple as well as sometimes complex are wonderful for showcasing how interactions can add to the reading experience.

I love the charm of this app, as I am very happy to expose my son to the European feel of this village. There is a moment in this app when a juggler and a circus performer stand in the street watching the musician that reminded me of a Felini film, which I greatly appreciate.

Without giving anything away, I simply loved the ending of this book, especially the last few interactions as well as a moment at the end which has a very effective melancholy feel, leaving my son momentarily speechless. After a few seconds, he said, "That was a really good story." I do hope to see more story books from this developer, as the combinations of the hand-drawn illustrations and the interactions are simply wonderful.