Muchavka and the Giant Review

Muchavka and the Giant is a delightful interactive app for iPad with a stunning visual style that teaches about opposites as well as an unlikely friendship along the way and is based on a Russian storybook of the same name.

Although not quite narrative, this is an app full of whimsy as the day is long and introduces readers to Muchavka, a young girl, and her good friend, a giant, who is an older man of unknown relation to the girl. This app is gorgeous to look at with a style all its own complete with a palette of the most vivid colors, all of which look wonderful on the iPad. Opposites are taught in a lovingly unusual ways, such as small and big illustrated with the pixie of a girl standing on the belly of the giant who expands in size with the spreading out of fingers in this interactive app. Instead of simply turning the pages here, often times a finger is needed to be slid horizontally to the right to see the full page, and here the complete dichotomy of " I am small and you are big" is shown. Other times one will scroll vertically to experience the entire opposite found within these pages, such as "You are tall, and I am short."

Do hunt around these pages for intriguing hidden interactions. I am impressed that I keep finding new ones that I have previously missed, making this an experience I continue to enjoy again and again.

Kids of all ages will be instantly engaged by the lush look of this app, the fun and interesting interactions and charming child narration, but this may not be an ideal book for truly teaching children about opposites or for those easily unnerved by some of the more peculiar details, such as "I am from the city and you are from the country." I found this confusing as the girl from the city is walking a pig - something I would think is more country-oriented until one scrolls to the right to find the giant and his friend, the horse, an image I assume is to be more country than the first, true as here Muchavka has her midriff exposed and a tattoo around her navel. A few choices here are equally as odd, as is the wonderful style of this app, such as "I am fluffy and you are thorny" and also included is a wonderfully stylized page involving a circus lion tamer to illustrate brave/prudent - strange choices for opposites here, and I wonder if something got lost in the translation from the original Russian. Sometimes an example just for fun is included such as "You are noodly, I am watermelony," which may mean nothing specific past this artful app but leads to some wondrous visual elements.

Some confusing moments also exist as the opposite is illustrated from the text offered, such as the giant, said to be large, is seen being pulled up into the air by balloons, and the difference of grownup and child is quite bizarre as well, as here, the girl is dressed as an adult and the giant like a child as he races through a grocery in the back of a shopping cart.

For these reasons, parents may not choose this as a first app to truly teach basic differences to their children, but this app will be certainly appealing to preschool-age kids and up. Together, children and adults can enjoy such grand art and fun hot spots found through out this creative application, as this app will speak to anyone who really can appreciate illustrations and animated moments perfectly realized for the experience author and illustrator, Oksana Grivina, has created.

I can't help but wonder more about these characters who are said to be "good friends," and although I often was left wanting more from characters I feel not fully realized compared to other stories, I would not change how much about this friendship is divulged, as the peculiar details offered here make me daydream about their antics and adventures away from the pages of this application. It is the nonsensical details that may make me scratch my head, raise an eyebrow, and keep turning these pages.

Some parents may not approve of the difference of boy vs. girl being explored as the two friends relieve themselves in the woods - the man urinating while standing up facing the trees, back turned to Muchavka, yet looking vaguely in her direction over his shoulder as she urinates while sitting down on a potty and reading a book, with interactions including urinating sounds if one taps each of these characters. For me, this was just another part of the oddity of this app which I also enjoyed.

This app has a decidedly European feel and elegance that people will either gravitate towards or away from. Either way, it has been my pleasure to let readers know about this odd interactive app. I know some will fall in love with this the way I have. It may be an acquired taste, but some of the best things usually are.