A TROOP IS A GROUP OF MONKEYS

From a parliament of owls to a tower of giraffes, young readers will learn interesting collective nouns used for groups of animals.

With pleasant rhyming text, Hedlund teaches children about 16 different collective nouns for wild animals. “A parliament of owls hoots in the night. / A pandemonium of parrots begins to take flight.” The rhythm and rhyme contribute to a pleasant narration in the “Read to Me” option. Appealing watercolor-and-pencil illustrations using textured backgrounds are warm and inviting. Catchy music opens and concludes this app, with an original song based on the text of the app. Unfortunately, even though the interactive features enhance the story with brief animated actions, this app does not make full use of the tablet’s ability to involve readers or reinforce new vocabulary. Young readers would benefit from being able to see the target word highlighted or written in large font on the screen, and it would help for young readers to be able to hear the new vocabulary word repeated if they tap on the group of animals. After all, what distinguishes this app is the chance for readers to learn about different collective nouns.

A pleasing app, but one that could use the iPad’s interactive features to help children learn new vocabulary more effectively.