Fergus Ferry Lite

On the landing page of the app, the user is presented with 4 option tabs;

-          Read the Stories

-          Play the Game

-          Explore the Harbour

-          More Fergus

-          For Teachers

-          For Parents

The stories are the main feature to the app and are centred around the Characters Fergus (a passenger ferry) and Joe the captain. All in all, there are 24 stories to read, with 10-15 pages each, which is an incredible amount of content for the price point. You have the option of a story being read to you, or reading yourself. The illustrations are very pleasing on the eye and have obviously been created with a lot of time and care.

The narration is also great, with rhyming paragraphs accompanying each illustration in the story. The stories are set in Sydney harbour, and are around different the scenarios that Fergus and his captain find themselves in.  For instance, one story involves Fergus having to rescue some people from a burning island, or tug a large ship safely into the harbour.

If you read the content in the ‘for parents’ tab in the main screen, the author of the books outlines what the messages of each story are, such as friendship, believing in yourself and don’t judge a book by its cover. I felt each of the 24 stories, did indeed have something valuable that the reader could take away.

The game element of the app, was probably my least favourite aspect. The game play was simple and fairly monotonous. It is, of course, designed for early learners, but could have been more visually appealing with more varied objectives.

Another feature of the app that I loved was the ‘Explore the Harbour’ tab. When clicked on the user is taken to a map view of the harbour with a symbol for the different boats and places found in each region.  For instance, if you click on the Lady Jane boat, you’ll find out how fast it travels, how many passengers it can hold and what it is used for. This is a really nice feature, and there are lots of boats and landmarks to explore.

The last tab is the ‘for teachers’ tab, which guides teachers on how to structure a lesson/conversation around each of the stories, and what the main messages are. This is one of the first times I’ve seen this type of section in an app, and think it could be quite useful for application in the classroom, although I would only expect a teacher to use it as a very rough guideline.

All in all, this is a great app and will occupy your little ones for many hours. I’ve reviewed many story book apps, and I’ve never seen anything with as much content. This app is definitely a must have for 2014 and a great adaptation of the Fergus Ferry book series.