A Very Mice Christmas Review

A Very Mice Christmas is a simple and sweet Christmas app with an interesting sense of style using collage-like illustrations that contain photographic elements to create charming images that children will enjoy. Listen to narration or read this book out loud. Auto tune is also an option. This app is available for both iPad as well as iPhone.

Written in rhyme, enjoy mice as they go Christmas shopping for items such as stockings, a tree, ribbon, or ornaments. It also has a cute ending where all the mouse shop keepers get invited in to share Christmas as well in this cute holiday app.

In my son’s preschool class, they have a family of pet mice that my son enjoys watching. This app is fun for those like my son who enjoy small animals such as mice as here, they are dressed up in little clothing and shop or enjoy warm drinks like little people, reminiscent to me of Beatrice Potter mice using the multi-media style of images instead of drawings that show these creatures darlingly anthropomorphized. Do tap on these mice as well to hear them speak in squeaky, mouse-like voices.

Originally printed as a “Touch and Feel’ book by Wendy Wax, the ability to feel the different textures is hard to replicate, but I enjoy the details throughout this book that hint at a tactile experience.

The best part about this book is that children, with the help of their parents, can create a completely new story based on these images as one can personalize the text and narration with the use of a record feature - a very nice touch that works well here as these collage-like images are quite imaginative, possibly bringing out the creative side of children who can now make their own storybook using these pages as a template of sorts.

A memory game is also included where one turns over tiles in order to look for pairs, also including a hint button that when tapped will narrow choices down by highlighting tiles that may be a match - a nice touch, but I did not like that a timer is also included as I am not a fan of making young children feel rushed.

Also included is a series of three hidden object activities with a nice if not slightly challenging level of difficulty as well as an included hints button that narrows down where to look for the items hidden within.

All and all, a nice holiday app for children, especially those who may enjoy making up their own stories about what they see in these delightful, mousy illustrations.