Lulu in Polynesia Guest Review

Posted by Jennifer

This review comes to us as a guest post from Carisa at Digital-Storytime.com, a trusted reviewer who focuses primarily on children’s iPad book apps.  Carisa’s original rating is 4.5/5 stars.  Thanks Carisa!

Here are some of our personal thoughts before I dig into the review.  Lulu in Polynesia has been enjoyed by my children many times.  It’s an immersive, interactive, early geography experience around 30 minutes long and has appealed to everyone from my four-year-old to my nine-year-old.  They all highly recommend it.  Some parents might want to note that the app does include some shirtless children and some in native costume.

App Name: Lulu in Polynesia

Overall Rating: 5/5

Mom’s Rating: 5/5

Kids’ Rating: 5/5

Recommended Grades/Ages: Preschool, Kindergarten, Grades 1-4

Skills Developed: Storybook, Polynesia, Geography

Available On/Price: Universal (iPhone/iPod/iPad) – $3.99

Android at Amazon – $3.19

A lite version of the app is also available if you’d like to try before you buy.

Reviewed on: iPad

Lulu is a little French girl who goes on many adventures around the world with her cat, Zazou. This story is about their second trip in the series … to French Polynesia. The pair arrive by air, this time parachuting onto the islands. This title is lightly animated and full of interactivity that makes the reader a part of the story. Every page has elements to tap that move the story along or provide additional dialogue and information about the part of the world they are exploring. A small pink bird can also be found in every scene. Watch Lulu dance, help her prepare a Tahitian salad and even write a souvenir postcard to a friend (Note: This feature uses your email account).

This app is well made with lots of features, including a map that allows you to explore the story of their travels in a non-linear way. The text doesn’t highlight as read, but it is in a clear, easy to read font, perfect for young readers. This book features lots of interesting dialogue that goes beyond the text of the story, as well. There are also lots of games (accessible from within the book), making this an app that can be played with for hours. These activities include copying the sequence of a garland, finding a pearl under three moving shells, and a ‘catch the crab’ color matching game. There is even a canoe race at the end where readers can help Lulu paddle to victory. These are fun extras and extend playtime with this app, but can also present a distraction to young reader’s comprehension of the story.

The only real drawback of this series, for me, relates to the reading opportunities provided, since much of the dialogue (and even some of the narrated story) is not shown in the text boxes. Most of the introductory narrative for each page is shown in text form, however young listeners would benefit from the option to see the dialogue as text, too. The addition of speech bubbles for the characters (or some other way to display the text) and highlighting would be a nice educational enhancement for a future update.

Overall, this is an very engaging app with charming characters and fun activities bundled into the narrative. Children will love this story and in the process, they will learn about the places, people and animals of the islands of French Polynesia. This book also has intuitive settings, including nice narration that can be set up for French or English. My little one is already asking about the next adventure in this series, and I predict yours will too. Recommended!

Other Notes: This app does not include in-app purchases, or advertising.  It does include email links, social media links, and other external links found on separate information pages.

Buy this universal (iPhone/iPod/iPad) app now for $3.99!

A lite version of the app is also available if you’d like to try before you buy.

An Android version of this app is available at Amazon for $3.19!

About Carisa Kluver – Carisa Kluver is the the editor of Digital-Storytime.com, an iPad children’s book review site. She has a BA in Anthropology from UC Berkeley and an MSW from the University of Washington. Before starting this project, she was a school counselor, health educator and researcher in child & maternal health.

Have you downloaded this app?  Let us know what you and your children thought – leave a comment!