Universally compatible with
all Apple devices
I Am A Child, Just Like You
Written by Travis E. Breeding, I Am A Child, Just Like You is an intriguing book. It's available as a universal app and as a physical children's book. According to TravisBreeding.com, "At age 22 Mr. Breeding was diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome. In hopes of sharing his story with others, he decided to write... His main goal is to educate as many people as he can on Autism and other Spectrum disorders." I can certainly appreciate that!
Mr. Breeding's book is a bold and honest introspective told with childlike innocence through the voice of the main character, Mason, who has autism. You'll see things from inside the mind of a person with Asperger's. His words, and the general way he tells the story, lends an understanding of how unique and wonderful children with autism are. There's a positive spin throughout the book, but it's solidly grounded in reality. It's refreshing.
This book fearlessly and confidently comments on the differences between kids with autism and typical kids, leaving out almost nothing. And in mentioning the differences, Mr. Breeding wisely draws the parallel that both are alike in more ways than not. There's no missing the message that children on the spectrum are unique, cool, and have much in common with typical children.
I love the hand-drawn artwork in I Am A Child, Just Like You. It's done with various mediums including Crayon, pencil, and watercolor. It really lends a personal feel to the book. The appropriate background sounds let you immerse yourself into the story too.
You can choose to read the book yourself, or have it read to you. Swipe forward or back to turn pages and swipe vertically at the bottom of any page to pull up a timeline that includes each page in the book. This makes it easy to go directly to a certain page/screen.
Unfortunately, I Am A Child, Just Like You fails to take full advantage of the features of the multi-touch interface. That takes nothing away from the story itself, but the app could be much better given the platform it's on.
To clarify, there's no interactivity. You can't touch here to see something animate. You can't touch there to hear a sound. If you stop, and exit the app, but go back to it later the app doesn't remember what page you were on. You can't tap a word to have that specific word repeated. You can't tap on a page to have the entire page re-read because your little sister stormed in wailing at the top of her lungs. Apple devices are capable of these things and we've come to expect these features from a children's book that's available on the iPad and iPhone.
But the serious problem is when the narrator is reading words that are different from the words written. That happens several times within the first few pages. It's also my opinion that there's far too much white space on each page. White literally covers almost half the screen!
Even with its shortcomings on the iPad, I still think this book is valuable. It tells a story that's not heard often enough. And Mr. Breeding has written that story in a manner that's just delightful to hear!
