The Luca Lashes series from Luca Lashes LLC centers on a young boy who learns how to be brave in the face of new situations. The latest e-book in the line, Luca Lashes and His Trip to the Nursing Home, sees him visiting his great-grandmother at the title locale. Luca feels the expected nervousness that comes with traveling to an unfamiliar place, encountering strangers, and seeing someone he cares about in a very different setting. Although such fears may be familiar to everyone, the e-book takes a soothing approach to addressing these anxieties.
Along with voice-over narration and read-along text, there is artwork on each page that kids can interact with. Objects come to life, make noise, and more when touched on an iPad screen. The reactions tend to be stimulating—a harp playing, a bell chiming, a picture frame that starts swaying against a wall, etc.—and they keep young audiences attentive without ever being overly distracting. There are also objects that readers can drag all around the screen. Whenever they let go, the ball, toy, or flower finds its way back to its starting point.
The types of interactive objects differ on each page of the e-book, so the experience of reading Luca Lashes and His Trip to the Nursing Home never becomes monotonous. In addition, there are five different language options so audiences can see and hear Luca’s tale of courage in Spanish, French, and more. This e-book definitely takes advantage of current mobile technology to deliver an involving experience for all kinds of audiences, yet the underlying message that the unknown need not be so scary is timeless.
