Florence

Gr 8 Up—Florence is a young woman whose life is on hold. Players' first interactions with this 25-year-old involve mundane activities such as liking social media images and inputting figures into her work computer. Then, one day, as Florence is walking along, her phone battery dies; she takes out her earbuds and hears haunting music, which draws her, floating, down the streetThe music is coming from a cello played by a young man named Krish. She later hears him as she is biking, and distracted, crashes her bicycle, precipitating an encounter with the cellist, who runs to her aid. The two begin spending time together; eventually, they fall in love. The story follows their relationship through its ups and downs, while also zeroing in on Florence as she remembers her artistic aspirations.The interactive elements of this story are intriguing. The story moves forward as viewers touch different objects on the screen, such as musical notes, or complete activities such as focusing the images when Florence is dazed by her accident (more difficult than it sounds); tackling pieces of a conversational puzzle; and putting some of Florence's items in storage when Krish moves into her apartment. The musical elements, especially the pieces played by Krish, are so moving that they are likely to inspire players to find out if the soundtrack is available to download separately (it is).