Miffy Goes Flying is the second application which brings the classic Miffy series of storybooks to life as interactive applications.
Even though I don’t specifically remember Miffy books from my childhood, I am impressed by how recognizable their illustrations are to me, lovingly stylized with a use of simple lines and colors both minimal yet bright, creating a vintage elegance that I find very attractive, as will today’s children.
The Miffy series revolves around the daily life of a cute, anthropomorphic rabbit. Here, Miffy gets to go flying in her uncle's plane, taking in the scenery as they travel.
The story is simple and sweet, with a nice amount of action to captivate babies, toddlers and young preschool students.
This is a lovely adaptation of the title of the same name, published in 1970, now including interactive hotspots and mild animated details which do a marvelous job of being interactive yet never overly stimulating, keeping this book a calming experience as it would be without being adapted.
There are also a few included activities not found within the original text but work quite well within this story and include lovely narrated prompts to help children fully enjoy these sections, such as touching the airplane to help it become airborne, drawing a line that their airplane will follow, or tapping clouds to see them disappear as well as producing lovely chime sounds which add a musical effect to this storybook as well - a moment of this app that I especially enjoyed.
A few extras are also included within, be it a few mini games such as organizing objects found on stickers at their rightful place in the sky or on the ground or a tilt game helping the airplane catch falling skies with a pace even young children can enjoy - an issue I sometimes have with this style arcade-like activity. Children can also decorate their own Miffy-themed card with stickers to email to friends and family.
Parents and young children alike will also appreciate that the pages of this book can be turned either with a swipe or simply waiting for the page to turn automatically. I did notice, however, that while the pages of this storybook turn left to right as is typical, the pages swipe the screen from right to left when turning to an activity page, which I could see as disorienting to some.
Translated from Dutch, I do notice subtle moments where the translation may seen charmingly awkward at first glance, but the very nice narration does a great job of bridging this gap in a way that I appreciate.
A chance to record up to three additional voiceovers is also included, giving children a chance to have a choice of narration in this storybook. It would be nice if in the future, however, one could simply read this book to oneself silently, making this a wonderful early reader as well.
It is very nice to see a new generation of children able to enjoy these storybooks. I am sure that those adults who remember these stories from their childhood will be very happy with this digital version, nicely combining an exciting flight in the sky with a relaxing tone that children will be both engaged by as well as find quite relaxing.
iPad Screenshots
(click to enlarge)
