Treasure Island by Cyberia Review

Posted by Amy Solomon on February 7th, 2011
iPad App - Designed for iPad

Treasure Island by Cyberia is an amazing adaptation of the classic Robert Louis Stevenson book for iPad, which does a really great job of incorporating many different elements together such as sound, animation, and interactions to make a wonderful interactive story.

I have really enjoyed this interactive storybook. This app showcases how iPads can bring books to life while still maintaining the reading experience. Although I do love a good narration to a story, I respect the choice of the developers to not have an option to listen to this book out loud. Geared to children nine years and up, this book is designed to be read either by themselves or with the help of a adult and would be a great choice in encouraging kids to read.

This book is full of beautiful illustrations combined seamlessly with interesting animated elements on many of the pages. Creative interactions are also included that, along with the animations, are never random or distracting but instead further the story. The use of sound is also wonderful here, which includes the sounds of both the sea as well as the “arg” of pirates as well as well-done music which creates great moments of suspense for the reader.

I can’t imagine a child not becoming completely drawn in after the first page or two. In fact, I wish I were a nine year old discovering this app for the first time. I can, however, imagine the period language seeming foreign to some young readers. If so, parents may want to help in the reading and share in the experience. I think this app can also be appreciated by older students as well, including teens and adults, as a great interactive story which has no age restrictions.

Thoughtfully abridged, parents will be happy to know that the style of language is maintained while making the story accessible to children and I really appreciate that there is a glossary of words included as well as a short biography of the author. I like the ease of the interface as well, swiping to turn pages and double tapping to raise a bar from the bottom of the page containing such options like a table of contents or a glossary as well as the option to turn off the sound and a general help button for instructions. It is also a nice feature that one can scroll through the contents option, looking for a specific page by viewing a small preview of each page - this working nicely as each page is unique looking. It is also nice that the app will open to the page you left off on, a very helpful for longer eBooks.

Cyberia has risen to the short list of developers I will be keeping a watchful eye on, hoping for another wonderful application from these thoughtful storytellers.

iPad Screenshots

(click to enlarge)

Treasure Island by Cyberia screenshot 1 Treasure Island by Cyberia screenshot 2 Treasure Island by Cyberia screenshot 3 Treasure Island by Cyberia screenshot 4 Treasure Island by Cyberia screenshot 5
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