Making friends is sometimes as easy as building one first ...

From the developers behind the 5-Star book app, Will & Kate: A Love Story, comes another hit. Attention to detail, polished enhancements, and top notch pacing make anything by Ink Robin a must-download app. This title treats readers to a story about a little boy with a BIG imagination. Leonard wants to make friends, but after moving to the country he discovers that it is harder than ever to find anyone to play with. He (and his blue cat) have many whimsical adventures before Leonard decides to build a friend instead (robot lovers will enjoy this plot twist).

From the moment you open this app, there is something to amuse, even on the cover page. A small 'lever' appears on most of the 18 pages, letting readers slide to advance the story and see a magical new scene appear. Leonard (and his cat) appear in most of these 'fantasy' scenarios, showing the things Leonard is pretending; from a lion tamer (kitty is fierce as a blue lion) to an astronaut  (climbing a a ladder that happens to lead into outer space), there isn't a single interaction that is superfluous to the story. Fabulous narration is optional (although it doesn't highlight as read).

Like all the apps I've seen from Ink Robin, this one is intuitive and well-made. It features a nice page guide, simple settings to navigate and solid swipe-style page-turning. The well-crafted story is in an easy to read font, although the reading level is probably closer to 4-6th grade for children who want to use the 'read it myself' mode. Children of all ages will enjoy listening to the story and 'playing' with all the spectacular scenes. The page with bugs you can squish crawling all over the screen was a personal favorite of my little boy.

Overall this is simply a stellar app that has become a frequent request of my child ... since we are moving soon ourselves, it has been a perfect conversation-starter as well about the transitions that children go through when making new friends. With dramatic sound effects and animation that is polished but not show-stealing, this book app delivers a story that children (and adults) will enjoy reading over and over. My highest recommendation! 

All reviews are of the app, not the platform/device. Based originally on iPad versions. Minor technical details may vary.