The Wrong Book Review

The Wrong Book is a wonderfully interactive universal storybook adapted from the book of the same name.

The premise of this book is simple, with main character Nicholas Ickle simply trying to introduce this book to readers. This is no easy task, however, as Nicholas is interrupted on every page by an oddball assortment of animals and characters such as a trumpeting elephant, pirates, monsters, a puppet, mice and even a queen, all terrible distractions to Nicholas - much to the great entertainment of readers.

With terrific narration by Australian comic Frank Woodley, this app includes few words per each page but depicts Nicholas’s frustration wonderfully in a way children and adults can relate to and laugh at, reminding me of the quote by W.C. Fields, “Comedy is merely tragedy happening to someone else.”

This app may not be for all families as there is a lot of yelling done on the part of Nicholas, but this does not prevent us from enjoying this whimsical application.

The included interactions are really a lot of fun as one can look for hidden objects that once found fall to the bottom of the page and can be tossed around the screen - be it an anchor compliments of the pirates, peanuts from the elephant, or even monster farts - a detail that we absolutely adore but may be off-putting to some.

Animated moments and sound effects can also be triggered by tapping hidden hotspots which are creative, fun, and rather involved.

My son and I have really enjoyed turning each page to see what is included on the next, and I am happy to announce that this book stands up very nicely to re-reading as well.

Although this book does not pretend to be something other that a creative and fun story for children, the last page of this story always makes me pause for a moment as Nicholas gets the last word in that “My Name is Nicholas Ickle and this book is about ...me” as Woodley’s pitch-perfect narration develops a character who, to me, may represent children who don’t feel as if they have a voice, creating a somber moment as the last word “Me” is revealed - a moment I feel each time I read this book.

The format of the book is the appearance of a printed book seen on the screen that opens up to be read. This book-within-a-book style, seen in other applications as well makes and sense especially within this story, but makes all the pages smaller than if the book's border were not included and the pages took up the entire screen. This is especially true for the iPhone version where the font size is a little small to read but manageable, especially alongside the narration which can also be muted if one so desires. Readers can also make their own recordings as well.

I strongly recommend this app for readers looking for a storybook with a lot of interactions as they truly bring richness to this book without ever being unnecessary distractions.