PENELOPE THE PURPLE PIRATE

Low (apparently) of budget and bland (certainly) of content, this digital tale follows a child on an imaginary voyage to an island where she and her companions dig up a treasure chest, take a few glittery souvenirs and sail home to bed. Her pals include a trio of animals with piratical disabilities: a dolphin with an eye patch, a turtle with a peg, er, flipper and an octopus with a hook on one of its tentacles. The art is utterly free of animation beyond occasional sparkles and features flat cartoon views of the fixedly smiling Penelope (and her animal shipmates) in static poses. The optional voice track, read by a child, is as wooden as the writing—which runs to lines like, “‘Let’s just take a few goodies,’ says Penelope ‘and leave the rest for the next adventurous pirate.’” The sparse assortment of less-than-exciting touch-activated sound effects range from sand being shoveled or a tiny splash to a very brief dolphin chirp and a cheery “Ahoy!” It's glitchy, too: When the word-highlighting feature is turned off, some of the text disappears even though it's still read aloud. Supplementary material includes review questions, activities and facts about octopi, sea turtles and dolphins. After even casual exposure to the plethora of better-designed, more feature-rich apps currently available, children will likely greet this effort with a (to quote Penelope) “Yaaawwn.” (iPad storybook app. 5-7)