Hectic Grandson and I went on our own big adventure this week. We drove 4 hours from our home to Pittsburg, KS. It was just the two of us on the outbound drive, so I was understandably apprehensive about how he would do. He’s still too little to have a front-facing car seat, so all our interactions were somewhat difficult. Fortunately, he slept for the early part of the journey. When he finally awoke, we stopped to fill the car, eat his breakfast, and burn off some energy. Then to get him in the mood to get back in his carseat for another 2 hours, I decided to read a book to him. I’ve been planning to read Polar Brrr’s Big Adventure for a while now, since it was on my Kindle reader on my iPad. During our stop on our drive I pulled out the iPad and we read the book for the first time. After four read-throughs, Hectic Grandson was enthralled. More importantly, he seemed fairly calm, so I put him back in his carseat and gave him the iPad with the Kindle reader loaded.

For the next hour he touched on the pages and talked to the book. It was pretty awesome to hear him telling himself the story. Of course, he’s 14 months old with barely a dozen words in his spoken vocabulary, but he was making all sorts of noises and seemed to enjoy the book immensely.

Eventually, the talking to the book ended, and when I checked on him, he was fast asleep…most likely with dreams of Polar Brrr!

Sometime eBooks are hard with little ones, they’re not as interactive as the games they’re used to, yet the look like them. I’ve sensed frustration with other books for my little man, but this book didn’t seem to do that. The illustrations do a great job of representing action, and it was very easy to make sounds to go along with the imagined actions.

It was pretty clear that Hectic Grandson got the idea that the ice pieces and water represented moving objects in the illustration. He continually touched on the ice and water and made sounds representing movement. Oddly though, he didn’t seem frustrated that the objects didn’t move as they do in an interactive book or an app.

He did seem very pleased when he double-tapped on the words and they enlarged. While he can’t read, that small amount of interactivity did seem to enthrall him. It was pretty interesting to watch.

The story itself is pretty fun. Mama Brrr packs a gift that is then entrusted to Polar Brrr to transport. The Arctic is a pretty rough place, and the adventure is full of wolves, birds, and traveling dangers. Polar Brrr is up to the task, and at the end successfully delivers the surprise gift.

After our 4-hour outbound trip, we picked up Hectic 19, and made a return journey for a family obligation. For a good hour-and-a-half on the return journey, my 19 year old son read the book over and over to Hectic Grandson. Since the two don’t get much time together, it was really heart-warming to witness. It was also funny that Hectic 19 said “what a great story” after their reading time was done. I mean, if you can interest a 19 year-old and a 14 month-old in the same book, I think you have a winner.

Polar Brrr’s Big Adventure is one eBook that’s staying on my iPad for those occasions when we don’t have a board book with us!