Endless Alphabet

PreS-Gr 1—This playful letter-matching, speech-developing app opens with a parade of colorful, Pokemon-like creatures dancing across the screen. The host, a horned blue monster, then settles into place with his mouth open to reveal a carousel of 59 alphabetically arranged cards, each one featuring a word and one or more characters ready to frolic (word selection is regularly updated).Clicking on a card scatters its letters across the screen as a stampede of creatures tears across the display. Letter-shaped spaces are left behind, and users drag the colorful letters to their correct spots to move to the next challenge, providing an easy and enjoyable way to boost letter-recognition skills. Audio assistance is provided by the letters springing to wiggly life as they are dragged, insistently emitting "their" sound. Dragging the "y" of yawn, for example, starts a creature yelling, "yuh-yuh-yuh," which halts when it is placed correctly (users hear a sad "uh uh" if the letter is brought to the wrong place). Upon success, the word jumps around in celebration and a little monster acts it out (lying down and doing an exaggerated yawn, for example), while a voice recites its definition, a recitation that can be activated at any time by pressing a small "word" button. This creative offering will be popular with preschoolers generally, but its boisterous audio feature will be particularly useful with children in speech therapy who need a boost to get them talking or speaking more clearly.—Henrietta Thornton-Verma, Library Journal