Nereena, Fairy Queen of Halloween Review

Nereena, Fairy Queen of Halloween is a storybook for iPad, more of a lyrical poem really, about Nereena, the Fairy Queen and the one day a year on Halloween where she releases the various creatures she cares for from the canals under Venice, allowing them to roam about at night.

The look of this app is simply beautiful, including a wonderful antiqued look of paper, yellow and distressed with age and wear and full of monsters and scary-looking characters who are somewhat misunderstood in reality as they are not looking to harm anyone - which readers will come to realize by the end of this story.

Tilt the iPad or interact with these creatures that one meets throughout these pages, also using the magical magnifying glasses to look at the details up close, as these loops not only enlarge but add additional spooky elements - be it fairies or animation, other effects and details that cannot be seen without these magical lenses. I like that both the characters one will meet and the loops themselves have a nice use of physics incorporated into their interactions, an aspect that adults will enjoy as much as their children. Do read the clues found throughout as well, adding to the richness of the experience.

These characters are lovingly hand-drawn with brilliant details and a use of color that make me think of Victorian fairy artwork of days past which gives this app a stunning hand-made feel that translates into digital form nicely. Music, sound effects and other interactions are incorporated here as well with tremendous effect that older children who are looking for a spooky Halloween iPad experience will appreciate a great deal. Another nice feature here is the inclusion of a few Halloween themed recipes that kids and adults will enjoy woking on together.

I find it interesting that one can choose to explore the poem itself and the included interactions found in these pages, or spend time looking at Nereena in a separate section, as she has a coat filled with creatures that one will want to look at in detail with the included magnifiers.

A nicely written backstory is also included that adults and older children will appreciate. Do note that this section is without narration, unlike the poem that is wonderfully read out loud. I do not take issue with the lack of narration in the backstory, as this adds to the documentary feel, but I think the placement of this is awkward as there is a narrated introduction before this section with great effect, but when I came to the backstory pages, I was taken aback by the lack of narration, actually thinking there was a glitch or I had done something wrong for there to be no sound. I think the backstory would work as a separate section of this app, or at the end past the recipes, as this information does add a great depth to the richness and enjoyment of this project. The poem, however, does stand alone nicely by itself and the experience may be greatened if children do not stumble across pages of unexpected, unnarrated text before this app really takes off.

Having said this, The Fairy Queen of Halloween is a lovely app, great for Halloween, and has been created with a personal, hand-made quality that one can’t help but be impressed by. If interested, this book has also been published traditionally as well and, from what I have seen, also looks incredible in the printed version. I recommend this interactive eBook not just for the time around Halloween but to teach tolerance of others as these creatures are simply misunderstood - a thoughtful concept for children to contemplate. This app may be best for older preschool or beyond as the images, although beautiful, may create an environment too intense for the youngest or most sensitive of children.