World of Liberty: Paintings, Planes, and Pioneers

App Info

Price: $0.99
AppStore User Rating:

Overview

World of Liberty: Paintings, Planes and Pioneers is the third in a series of ebooks designed to ignite interest in learning about history, geography and connections between peoples. The main characters, eleven-year-old Liberty and her imaginary friends Truman the magical airplane, Ellie the sheepdog, and Georgie the toy eagle, use a computer to access a world where they can go anywhere and do nearly anything and research ideas, events and people that interest them.

Features include:

• Includes read to me, read to myself, and autoplay modes
• Includes four jigsaw puzzles
• Includes reading comprehension questions and activities
• Highlights words as they are read
• Uses professional narration and sound effects

Quality

World of Liberty: Paintings, Planes, and Pioneers is an outstanding __app that is well-designed for the target age group of early elementary students. The developers included an intuitive set of controls, the ability to choose pages, several modes of play, and many other features that make the app easy to use. The narration is high-quality, and the sound effects are well-conceived, complementing the story rather than overpowering it. Most pages include appropriate animations that are connected to the story.

Education

This app is very educational. It is part of a larger series focused on various social sciences/social studies skills, including geography, history, inclusiveness, and more. The main character, Liberty Lane, has adventures in the real-life world as well as in her imaginary world inside of her computer. In this episode, her school class visits the Smithsonian’s Air and Space Museum, prompting a closer look at Amelia Earhart. Connections are made in the story between Earhart, pioneers, Kansas, Mexico, a Mexican artist named Frida Kahlo, and more. Throughout the story, the interconnectedness of our shared history and society are emphasized. Other values stressed include the value of visiting museums, the fun of imagination, and the sheer joy of learning.

The story ends by including a number of comprehension questions for children to consider verbally or mentally, but has the option of checking the answers as needed. Developers also encourage readers to find locations from the story on maps at home, and provide four different jigsaw puzzles showing scenes from the story. All activities are well-designed and fun to use.

Entertainment

World of Liberty: Paintings, Planes, and Pioneers is quite entertaining. Each page of the rather lengthy ebook includes appropriate sound effects and animations that will keep children’s attention much more completely than simply reading the text would. The questions at the end of the book are very non-threatening in nature, simply encouraging users to access the information again mentally.

My one concern is that the opening sequence (which can be skipped if adults feel it would be better) tells the story of how Liberty’s toys Truman the airplane and Georgie the toy eagle, came to be inside the computer. It involves a lightning strike into Liberty’s bedroom, and while most children will realize the fanciful nature of the events described, some more sensitive kids or those who have not yet fully separated fantasy from reality may become unduly upset by the thought that such things might really happen. It would be important for parents or teachers to be aware of children who may have uncomfortable feelings about things like this, and who may need to be sheltered from or guided through this part of the book.

Value

This app is an excellent value at $0.99 in the app Store. There are 125 pages in the ebook, and to go through it in the “Read to Me” mode takes approximately thirty minutes. In addition, there are puzzles and questions about the story. The app is also included in a three-app bundle of other stories about Liberty that is available for $1.99 in the App Store.

Child Friendliness

This app is very child-friendly.

• Parent area (contains protected external links & social media)
• NO 3rd party ads
• NO in-app purchase
• YES “more apps” (protected, but visible)