An immersive reading experience built seamlessly for the touch tablet ...

Are you looking for an app with stunning 3D graphics and the ability to wow young readers? Well, look no further. The gorillas are back and they're making more music with the inspiration of their natural environment. From lightning to rain and even the fluttering of insects, these young musicians find sounds they can mimic and enhance with their own instruments. This tale begins with Pricilla Gorilla, who is upset when her portable music player has dead batteries. How can she listen to music now? The music teacher has an idea, "Music's always around you, wherever you go. It's the wind in the trees and the flutter and flap. It's the sound of the jungle - there's music in that."

Through well-paced verse the gorillas explore the sounds of the forest in this title from Graham Nunn, creator of the Larry Lizard series of apps and now Gorilla Band. This series has a musical theme and a jungle full of young gorillamusicians. Each ape child (tween-aged perhaps?) has a different instrument that they play, while exploring the music of the natural world. Inspiration comes from storms, birdsong and even the wings of butterflies. In the end, the musicians blend the sounds of nature into two songs (available within the app): "Crash, Bang, Wallop" and "Make a Song".

Every scene comes alive with the sounds and sights of the jungle, with characters that respond to each other and even stroll across the page with a tap. The enhancements in this title are both fun and well-paced for young readers ages 2-6+ although the story would be enjoyable for kids up to age 10. Nice highlighting is timed with the narration, word-for-word, including sing-along version of each song as a video extra. Readers can get more into the story by tapping the characters for additional dialog. Thoughtful settings also allow adults to delay interactivity until the text has been read aloud. The tunes played are also very catchy and will have children (as well as most adults) tapping along.

The storyline is short, but well-developed and predictable (in a way that will appeal to younger readers). The graphics are very impressive, but also can cause some delay in page loading, especially on older devices. The interactive dialog, in particular, can extend the story for a deeper (and longer) reading experience, depending on the child's engagement. This makes for a well designed and immersive app experience, in a way that makes readers more like the driver of the story, rather than a mere page-turning observer.

Make A Song by Gorilla Band 2 - 3D story book with Music is a fun sequel and full of engaging details that make it an easy app to recommend. Overall, it is a seamlessly designed app that provides an inviting reading experience worthy of many return visits.

Highly Recommended!

This app has been thoroughly evaluated by our staff. Please click on the 'star ratings' tab above, to see how it fared in all nine of our rating categories. See synopsis tab for more details about the storyline.

Note to readers: This review was expedited by the developer for a fee. The content of the rating/review is the same, but timing of publication has been prioritized. Paid consultation was also provided in advance of distribution for beta testing and/or story development.

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