Genre: Realistic
Fiction available in picture book and chapter book.
Format: eBook
Creators: Jane Jensen & Robert Holmes
Released: 2012
Cost: Free Sample,
$4.99 full version
Recommended ages: 3
-8
Based on my last
experience with a paid eBook, I was somewhat reluctant to purchase another;
however, Lola and Lucy’s Big Adventure was available as a free sampler, so
after testing the free version out on my daughter resulting in both of us
falling in love with these two dogs, I made the $4.99 leap and purchased the
full version.
Meet Lola &
Lucy, four year old English Bulldogs who live with their owners in Vermont. They are perfectly happy with their human
siblings, Janie and Dale, Lola and Lucy never really thought about their
purpose in life until they met Barney, the Australian Shepherd whose certainty
in his own purpose made Lola and Lucy question theirs. Upon returning home, Lucy borrowed Bill’s
computer. The two bulldogs find out that
their breed was originally bred to help farmers with their bulls. Determined to find a bull and discover their
destiny, Lola and Lucy set out on an adventure to New York as this is where
they believe that they will be able to find a bull. On their way, they get help from a talented squirrel
and an unsuspecting truck driver, following clue after clue, just missing the
bull as he travels from farm to farm.
Finally a dog named, Trigger seems to understand what Lola and Lucy want
and lead them right to a bull; unfortunately, this bull does not care about
their quest to find their purpose and promptly scares them away. Back on the road, they head for California
and end up at farm where they meet, Old Jack, whose more than willing to have
them experiment on him but more importantly shares some important wisdom with
Lola and Lucy. Finding a “lost” poster
at the farm, Lola and Lucy catch a ride home in a milk truck with a renewed
sense of purpose, to be with their human family.
Lola & Lucy are
based on real dogs that live with the creators of this eBook on a farm in
Pennsylvania. Somewhat reminiscent of
Dean Koontz’s series for his beloved Golden Retriever, Trixie, I like the way
this extends the opportunities for fans to interact with Lola & Lucy,
because they actually exist and many of the illustrations throughout the story
were inspired by actual pictures of these two!
And, speaking of the illustrations, I was impressed with the quality of
these paintings. The vivid colour and
detail gave depth to each page while the interactive animations engaged the
reader without distracting from the story.
Although the text in the picture book version partially blocks out part
of the picture, the read aloud version displays the text at the bottom of the
screen. Overall, not a big deal, just my
own little bug-a-boo!
Whether I was
clicking through webpages with Lucy, painting with Lola, the interactive
features of this book added to the engagement rather than distracted from
it. It allows the reader to connect even
more with the story and characters by manipulating objects in the pictures or playing a game to
match the words with the pictures. Once
the book is finished, readers also have the option of rereading the book as a
chapter book or even following Lola and Lucy on Twitter or Facebook.
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