Reviewed by Mary
Nora’s Crabby Day HD by Jan and Todd Graveline, is an iPad only app brought to the app store by PicPocket Books. Nora wakes up in a bad mood, she is just feeling downright crabby, and her bad mood soon starts to affect everything around her. 
The book has read it myself and read to me options, and the text can be highlighted as it is read in either mode. The story is lightly animated and on each page you see the effects of Nora’s crabby mood on the world around her. The illustrations have a distinctly retro feel and look like a collage, and the story is told in rhyming verse. It is narrated by a child, who does a great job and who you could just imagine as Nora. There is music playing quietly in the background. There is a small amount of interactivity e.g. sound effects for her stepping in the puddle and a burping pickle.
Nora wakes up just knowing it is going to be a bad day. “She woke with a feeling way down deep in her toes. This day would be awful. Why? No one knows.” As she goes about her day her bad mood affects everything around her -the bathroom mirror cracks, grey rain clouds follow her as she walks to school, even the birds stop singing. Her day goes from bad to worse- she steps in a puddle, a squirrel throws a nut at her, instead of her favorite teacher she has a scary sub, and nothing at school goes right. When school is over Nora rushes home and goes straight to bed. Then she hears a voice call “Where’s my sweet Nora?”. It is Nora’s mom, who tells her that everyone has days where they feel crabby and sad for no reason, she then has some very wise advice to share “Whenever that happens, the best thing to do, is to ask for a hug from someone who loves you”. Nora’s mom, dad and brother all hug her, making her feel much better, then Nora and the world around her all brighten up.
This story has a really nice feel about it, the rhyming verse works well – there is a print book called “Roger’s Upside Down Day” that has long been a favorite in my household and this has a similar feel about it. The illustrations are funky but fun at the same time, and the narrator does a great job. I love how the world around her even down to the wallpaper on the wall, turns grey and gloomy in response to Nora’s mood, and brightens again when she does. As well as being a fun read, this story has an important message – its ok to feel crabby or blue – everyone does sometimes, but that asking for a hug from a loved one can be a good way to feel better. The word highlighting as it is read is a great option to encourage reading. There are just two things I would like to see added to this app – a home button and page navigation, at the moment you have to flip through all the pages one by one to restart the book. The author recommends this book for age 2-5 years, but I would extend that age range a little, as I think kindergarten and first grade students will enjoy it too. A very cute book and well worth downloading!
Category: Books
Requirements: Compatible with iPad. Requires iOS 4.3 or later.
Cost: $1.99 (24.5MB)
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A fee was received to expedite this review to the top of our waiting list but this payment has not influenced the objectivity of the review and all opinions have been offered honestly.
Mary
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Alison, Amanda, Grace and Mary are four mothers from different parts of the world dedicated to educating parents about the best digital stories, educational apps, fun games and technology products available for their children. We also offer the latest news in apps for kids, interesting articles, developer interviews, free apps and regular giveaways!
With 3 kiddos, we sometimes have crabby days. My youngest was actually calling my daughter Queen Crabby Apple today
I would like this app because I think my daughter (and the rest of the family) could benefit from learning to get hugs when we’re feeling blue!
This looks like a great book that my kiddos would enjoy :)
Sorry, I didn’t say “why”…I think it would be an excellent book to read when one of mine is in a crabby mood & a good lesson overall.
this app would work well in my social thinking lessons!
I would like to win this book for my social skills group at school, and because I can really identify with having a crabby day! I think it could help me get through a day like that!!!
My 3 year old after 10 hours of daycare sometimes complains about being hit or bit and will say she is not happy. This ebook will give er a character to relate to when she plays with the iPad on the way home.
We’d love it cuz we have way to many mom days like that. LOL
It would be a great help to explain to students with disabilities what a bad day is and that it is okay to be upset or crabby every now nd than
My toddler gets very crabby I would love a book that helps her work through it.
I love the concept of this book and it would so help my daughter to recognize her crabby days!
Great way to talk about emotions
Love the graphics