Flip: Interactive Storybook Review

Flip: Interactive Storybook is an interesting universal interactive storybook.

This short storybook is honestly hard to describe in terms of a narrative as here a girl leaves a city described as dreary, and is no place for her. Emma literally tears herself off the page of this book, also removing a hot air balloon from these pages and flies away first through a lush field that leads to a dark and menacing forest, ultimately being lifted by a funnel cloud high into the sky until there is nothing left and hits "The End". From here, the girl fights her way back from this end page, back to the dreary city, deciding that it is in fact for her.

The style of this app is quite intriguing as many elements found among pop-up books have been incorporated and can be interacted with, such as the swipe of a finger to tear Emma off the page as well as helping Emma to pull tabs, or with a tap by the reader, opening up flaps one commonly finds in traditional pop-up books as well the tearing free a hot air balloon from these pages for Emma to use on her journey, a nice moment within this story.

This app create an interesting point-of view as one sees these articulated areas of this book from a vantage point of truly being within the story - not simply looking at these flaps or pop-up elements as one may from simply reading a book.

Although I prefer hand-drawn animation to that which is computerized, I do like the look of this app in general, as I enjoy how the accordion-style pop-up and fold down elements seen while turning the pages of a pop-up book are here almost characters themselves and are part of the storytelling narrative - not just elements found to create realism when turning a page. Emma herself also reminds me vaguely of a computerized Tim Burton character - high praise, to be sure.

Some interesting concepts are touched upon here because Emma is presumably a character in a book who is looking for adventure within this story without wanting to go beyond these pages. However, I simply wanted to know more about Emma, the dreary town and what was beyond the end - if anything - and why she chose to go back home.

I enjoy the moment where Emma removes the hot air balloon from the page and flies away as well as the twister that carries her away to the stars - reminiscent possibly of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz - but I did not like the way the tone of this short app changes so quickly, cycling between emotions without fully realizing these moments.

Some readers may enjoy how this story is open to interaction, while others may find the storyline thin and more of a showcase for the use of the digital art within.

The interactions do nicely propel this tale along, include dragging and tapping that creates some nice effects, yet the interactions can be cumbersome and unresponsive as well as difficult to decipher. Hints are offered telling readers how to interact with this tale, yet they can turn abstract such as asking for “help" without specific instruction - an area that got me stuck when reading this book more than once. When in doubt, do tap on the hint word itself.

It would also be nice if the page turning of this app could be smoothed out in a future update as this roughness does distract from the immersive feeling that this app does create.

I fear that I may come across as overly harsh in my review of Flip: Interactive Storybook - unfortunate because this app does create images that I do find captivating, possibly getting my son’s imagination working as Emma comes to the end of the book and pulls herself back from going over the edge of the end. I just wish more explanation was given about Emma and her back story, as well as fleshing out what, if anything is beyond "The End" and the reason for her returning to her bleak city.

Having said this, I give this app credit for its style and imagery created within that may stay within the minds of readers for some time. I do feel, however, that compared to other apps within this price point, this app may surprise adults with its short length and lack of varied interactions.