Snowpo: The Trip for Fish and Chips

This is a very funny story about Snowpo, the polar bear cub, who arrives in London searching for tasty food. In his adventure, he is arrested whilst tying to pinch a piece of salmon and is put on trial. If he is found guilty, he will be sentenced to life in the zoo. There are questions to be answered on every page and beautiful pictures about his trip in London. There are a few glitches but, with adult guidance, the app tells of a very sweet adventure.

Snowpo is a very cute and charming character and the story provides good entertainment. However, we were only able to give the app an EASRating of 3 because it falls down on a few technical and educational features that are a minimum requirement in order to give the app EAS Recommended status.

For example, on the first page I was asked to name out loud the ‘typical British dish’ of fish and chips. When I spoke into the microphone, I did not receive any feedback. This happened on other questions and I think that the app simply does not tell the child whether he/she is correct or not.  It is just a question of doing what is asked and the app assumes that you have done it.

Some of the questions would be too difficult for a child. For example, one of the correct answers was “prosecution charge papers”.  I would be very surprised if a 3-6 was aware of what that means.  Another question gave me about 21 different letters in succession in order to identify some plates of food. In order to do this, I had to grab a pen and paper in order to even begin to think about the answer.

On other pages there were a few illustrations with the word ‘caviar’ incorrectly spelt as ‘kaviar’.

Despite these shortcomings, the story is entertaining and you and your child will be able to sit together and read-along or, your child will be able to have the story read to him/her with each word highlighted in read as it is being read out within the app. The story is funny, entertaining and moves along at a fast pace in a narrative rhyming fashion. This is fantastic because it makes it easier to retain vocabulary and to keep engaged with the story.

The idea of interactivity is fabulous. There are questions on each page that ask to identify objects on the page. Some of the objects on the page are also moveable which makes for a playful touch.

The story is also based in London and the illustrations showcase some of the city’s famous landmarks. These little touches create discussion amongst adult and child if they are reading together about buildings, travel, different types of food and professions. I really liked the app and with adult guidance, I think that there is a lot that your child can get out it.