SPOT THE DOT

This abridged paper version of an outstanding iPad app sticks to the same basic design but offers a different set of visual challenges.

An instruction on the left side of each spread invites children to spot a differently colored dot—either hidden beneath flaps or concealed within groups of dots or other shapes that change with the pull of a tab or turn of a wheel—on the right. “Spot the blue dot,” the text instructs, opposite an orange page on which dots or fractions of dots are spilled. The blue dot is only three-quarters full; spinning the wheel allows readers to “complete” the dot as well as change the colors of other dots or dot-wedges on the page. The paper engineering is not only different on each spread, but the patterns of color and shape become ever more complex to make spotting each successive dot trickier: The game of hide-and-seek is capped by a final explosion of hundreds of dots for “black” and “white.”  Though this lacks the original’s audio narration and fanfares (and also features only eight colors rather than 10), as the movable art is new rather than just reproductions in paper of the digital animations, it has rewards of its own for diapered digerati.

The app is still better (not to mention cheaper), but with Carter, even spinoffs are first-rate.