App Review : Polar Bear Horizon

Title : Polar Bear Horizon

Author : Janet Halfmann

Illustrations by : Adrian Chesterman

Available on : Android and Apple devices

(Available at special introductory price of 99 cents )




Another offering(fifth, to be precise) by OmBooks which comes with three options - Read to Me, Read it Myself and Auto Play.

It is the story of a polar bear family which lives in the north coast of Alaska. The two cubs are born to a Polar Bear in late December when sun does not shine. But now they are restless and want to come out because spring has arrived and the den is getting warmer for the new cubs and their mother. The mother first tests the outer world by poking her head out of her snowy den and when she smells the air safe, she lets the furry cubs out.




The two cubs are trying to explore the big new world outside the confines of their den. The mother is famished and is looking out for some bearded seals or ringed seals for her hearty meal. She trains the little cubs during the first couple of years by teaching them ways to protect themselves as well as to find food at the right places. The cubs also learn to swim in the sea water.




The story educates the readers about the life cycle of polar bears, their eating habits, their hibernation patterns, their parenting style and much more. Besides talking about the Polar Bears, the narrative also introduces other four legged and winged inhabitants of this part of the world some of which form the meals of Polar Bears.




The book takes the readers to the world of the Polar Bears and their little ones and what all it takes to survive in such harsh climatic conditions. Overall an interesting story on the furry animals which live almost at the edge of our earth far away from any kind of human touch. The illustrations are gorgeous and the extra facts on Polar Bears at the end are an extra bonus.




The book application comes with these features:




1. Picture-word association
2. Clear audio narration
3. Melodious background score and other sound effects
4. Zoom option on the images




However, I would have liked if the keywords in the text were highlighted or had a little detailed explanation associated with them.

App Review : Oh Say Can You Say Di-no-saur?

Title : Oh Say Can You Say Di-no-saur?

(The Cat in the Hat's Learning Library)

Publisher : Oceanhouse Media

Available on : Apple Store

The Cat in the Hat's learning library aims at introducing the interesting natural concepts of world around us to the young readers by making education entertaining. In line with this objective, this is another offering in digital format by Oceanhouse Media with two options - Read to Me and Read Aloud.

The book has Sally and Dick, hidden messages held by Thing One and Thing Two, and the favourite Cat in the Hat as the tour guide who likes to call himself - Cat-in-the-hat-saurus. The Cat in the Hat takes Dick and Sally to a trip millions of years back in time when enormous lizards ruled over earth and the fossils of these fascinating creatures form an interesting research topic. They then go to the Super Dino Museum to learn more about various Dinosaurs who roamed on the face of Earth during prehistoric period.

It begins with a brief introduction about the Dinosaurs followed by going into specifics of some dinosaurs. The readers are helped along in correctly pronouncing the names of these dinosaurs by breaking the words into smaller fragments. This is not all, a small lesson is taught on paleontology too - what are fossils, where are these fossils found, how are they then put together like puzzle pieces to create the whole structures. These skeletons are now displayed in the museums for all to see and learn how these enormous creatures looked like.

Application features like - more information popping up on tapping Dino names, words getting highlighted as they are spoken out, tap on the images leading to naming words, touch-to-hear text and bold words leading to a little more detail, along with beautiful background score and sound effects, make it a great reading and interactive experience.

Children will enjoy the well acquainted characters and style of Dr. Seuss in new avatar. A great way to introduce the fascinating dinosaur world to young children. The zany illustrations and rhyming text are totally signature style of Dr. Seuss and are retained in exact same form.

This application has a slight variation in navigating from one page to another. Unlike the previous one, this has an arrow in the bottom right corner instead of swiping option. The Cat in the Hat's Learning Library is surely doing a great service by making these informative books available on the hand held devices too.

Tech Review : Antezen

"Discover like minded professionals to work with"

ANTEZEN - Another website? You'd think - nothing new, thousands join the space every single day.

This site offers something new? Every site claims to be 'different'.

But amazingly as you enter the Antezen website and start exploring it in a little more detail, you won’t help getting impressed by some very interesting ideas and features that this site offers.

To begin with, I can not skip commenting on the well thought out name and logo of the site - Antezen (derived from the base word Ant) which is a symbol of dexterousness and perseverance. Neither failure perturbs an ant nor success brings complacency. And who can symbolise team work better than efficiently working ants in their colonies?

Antezen offers a cross between social networking and recruiting facilities. In other words, it bridges the gap between these two services which have been provided individually by numerous sites. Brains behind this particular endeavour had one objective in mind - to plug in a lot of gaps that have been left open by these two sets of systems-

1. Networking sites : Professional networking sites like Linked In and Social networking sites like Facebook. This is done by facilitating the creation of network of co-workers and ex-coworkers.
2. Recruiting sites and Job search engines : This is accomplished by clubbing the networking facility to make the recruitment more tailor made for the professionals concerned. This works extremely well for two end users - a company looking out to recruit a professional for a certain kind of work and a professional looking for a perfect job opportunity for him/herself.

For the second part, a very intelligent - SupeRecruiter software has been developed, which incorporates the most used but least technically implemented mechanism of recruitment - 'The Word-of-Mouth' mechanism. SupeRecruiter, superbly utilizes the information gathered from the first system, runs it through some smart algorithms and creates a perfect platform for perfect match making - between hiring managers and the professionals.

Through these two services Antezen has been able to create a very innovative system which is uniquely positioned in the market. It is commendable that the need of this middle layer could be anticipated in the midst of plethora of sites which are providing subsets of some of the functionalities separately. Antezen is well on its path to offering a super smart one-stop system which seamlessly integrates with Facebook and Linked In and completely eliminates the hassle of creating profiles at every single networking site.

Antezen primarily makes use of the technologies - Ruby on Rails and jQuery, which have been duly mentioned on the site.

Following are some of the worth-mentioning features of the site :

The services and working of the site are explained through self explanatory videos which very briefly demonstrate what a user/viewer can expect from it.

The attention to detail throughout the website is laudable. Every point which could be a potential for any kind of doubt or confusion in the users' minds is preemptively thought through and the guidance is provided there and then leaving the minimal to trial and error.

Users get to create bands or groups which empower them to moderate their own communication in a certain manner with different bands. These bands are like 'personal recipient list' of messages.

A brief summary email is sent to the users informing them about the updates which concern them. However the frequency of these mails can be controlled by the users directly.

I specifically liked the manner in which the contributions of World's Super Brains are acknowledged, immaterial of the area they made their marks in. Antezen considers them Gods of this world and taking the same thought a little further, they have their Angels too.

Guider Ant is another cool ant which is there to assist the visitors. Don’t miss using its helping hand (leg?)

Some more interesting features are in the pipeline, for instance the personalized e-Cube facility. This cube is almost like a virtual office space where you decide its décor, things you want to stick to its walls and whom to entertain and when. This clearly indicates that Antezen with such personal touch, aims to be the one standing tall above the rest.

The small little images of ants illustrating the particular activity - under network section, show the extra thought that has gone in each and every aspect. However for the sake of uniformity something on the same lines could be done for other features too.

As I explored the site in detail, I came to the conclusion that it has been designed strictly adhering to the principle "work speaks louder than words" which I really appreciate. However, at some places, words become indispensable to put the point across so a right balance is extremely important. The whole text on the site needs at least one iteration of editing. The website is in Beta stage and work is on to smoothen out all rough patches and to give it the final shape.

Book Review : I Am Najar-am-Radh

Title : I am Najar-Am-Radh

Author : Geeta Dharmarajan

Illustrator : Vandana Singh

Publisher : Katha

ISBN : 978-81-89934-73-6

'I am Najar-Am-Radh' is a strange tale of a Tamarind Story Tree which has a treasure of wonderful stories for all. But how did this tree get all the stories? There is indeed a strange secret and a clever plan behind this.

Long time ago, all trees had lots of stories to narrate but a Wizard of Tantrapuri plucked all the words uttered by those trees, from the wind and robbed the trees off their stories. Once it so happened that he was cleverly tricked by a story teller who introduced the Wizard himself as a character in the story and unmindful of that, the wizard plucked that story too and put it in a tamarind seed and before he could realize his folly, he was entrapped in the tamarind seed.

Now the only way for him to get freedom was to be sown in the soil and since he had snatched so many stories of so many trees, he became a Tamarind Tree which was full of stories. And he started enjoying his status as a great story tree.

People from far and near places come to listen to his stories and he is a very friendly story teller now.

A swirling magic of the tamarind tree beautifully illustrated by Vandana Singh is sure to captivate young readers.

Book Review : The Glass Tree

Title : The Glass Tree

Author : M Mukundan

Illustrator : Poonam Athalye

Publisher : Katha

ISBN : 978-81-89934-79-8

'The Glass Tree' is one of the most endearing tales that I have ever read which begins with a role reversal of sorts. Grandma Mutthashi is pestering his grandson Unni, for a story before going to bed. This is because Unni's stories can put Mutthashi to sleep.

It does not take much time for 2-year Unni to relent to the pleadings of his Mutthashi. On this particular night Unni has a special story for his grandma- the story of a glass tree. He begins narrating the story as he imagines some pictures appearing on a bare wall in front of him. It is about a village chief - Kuruman. He is offering his prayers to the stone idol under the huge Champaka tree when a stranger, Melkorran addresses him and makes him believe that the old Champaka tree is about to die soon. Melkorran offers his services to Kuruman as he is adept in the art of making trees that don't grow old nor even shed a single leaf. Kuruman is completely bewitched by the idea of such a fascinating tree. Soon enough Melkorran sets to work, the old Champaka tree comes crashing down and the chirping inhabitants of the tree run helter-skelter trying to save their babies in the nests.

Melkorran shapes each and every part of the tree with utmost care and love. He builds the most beautiful glass tree which glistens with the sun rays but in spite of its magnificence there is something that the glass tree lacks.

Soon the images start to fade away from the wall in front of Unni and his story comes to an end.

This is actually retelling of a prize-winning original story. Fascinating art work by Poonam Athalye is a treat for the eyes.

Book Review : Trade Winds To Meluhha

Title : Trade Winds To Meluhha

Author : Vasant Dave

Publisher : Vasantrai P. Dave

E-format ISBN : 978-81-922506-0-1

In 'Trade Winds to Meluhha', the author Vasant Dave recreates the scene of Bronze Age in Mesopotamia and Indus Valley Civilization. As the title of the book suggests, the story revolves around the trade between the two ancient civilizations.

Samasin, the stable boy of a Babylonian - Nergal, gets accused falsely in a murder case of a visitor who happens to be a businessman from Meluhha. He absconds from that place in search of Siwa Saqra, the person whose name the dying man uttered. As the destiny would have it, he meets beautiful lass Velli and falls in love with her but she does not reciprocate his feelings because of her own reasons. There is another character Anu who is in search of certain men for revenge. Samasin with the assistance of Anu gets to decipher a Dholavira glyph which leads them to another adventure in the ravines of Saraswati. He does succeed in finding Siwa Saqra in Mohenjodaro but is there something more to the murder in Babylon than he knew already?

Gradually the mystery gets revealed behind the trade between Meluhha and Mesopotamia and the master mind responsible for the execution of wicked schemes is unmasked.

A very well thought out plot and is executed cleverly. While reading the book, the readers would surely get the feeling of travelling back in time and I must compliment the author in providing the perfect balance of authenticity and imagination in the narration. The way each character is etched, the names given to them, certain phrases of bygone era and the sensibilities of that society - make for an interesting read. It is evident that author has done a lot of research on that period of time, the people who lived then and their lifestyles and he has succeeded in creating the rustic feel to the story which is absolutely required for a historical novel.

But how much ever I try, I cannot avoid mentioning that the story is not free of typos, a couple of more editing iterations should have been done before releasing the final version. As I began reading the book, for initial 25-30 pages, I found it a cumbersome read because of introduction of too many characters too soon and completely unfamiliar kind of setting but slowly the saga pulled me in and then I realized that perhaps that kind of introduction is absolutely necessary for setting the stage.

This book claims to be the first professionally researched novel on Harappan Civilization. It is available as eBook on Amazon.

Book Review : Into The Wild

Title : Into The Wild

Author : Jon KraKauer

Publisher : Macmillan and Co

Sometimes after finishing a particular book, I find myself at loss of words to write its review. And for such books it takes a long time to compose the review. Somehow 'Into the Wild' belongs to that category. Its been almost two months since I finished reading this book and had jotted down the points that I wanted to include in the review but was not able to actually write it down. Christopher McCandless and his story never went out of my mind over the period of these two months and I guess the best way to vacate that portion of my mind is to write about him and his adventure.

By the very definition, humans are described as social creatures but does this inherent need to be social becomes too much of a burden for some people sometimes? This was the main thought which kept ringing in my mind while I was reading through this book. I read 'Into Thin Air' by the same author a while ago and some of the very fine co-bloggers and book reviewers highly recommended this book to me.

'Into the Wild' is a story of a young man, Chistopher McCandless who, unlike the people of his age renounced almost everything by giving away all the money that was reserved for his higher education to charity, abandoned his beloved car and other belongings, burnt his wallet money and severed the ties with his family. He reinvented himself as Alexander Supertramp and ventured into the wilderness of Alaska but unfortunately could not find his way out of it. His decomposed body was found in a deserted bus four months later. In 'Into The Wild', the author Jon KraKauer tries to retrace the path taken by Chris in an attempt to unravel the mystery and intrigue that wilderness creates in some and what are the temptations of this unknown world which some find hard to resist.

I must say that Jon has done a commendable job in trying to delve deep into the character of Chris, his inner urge to find himself and to be at peace with himself and what all contributed in making him the person he was. His research is impeccable as he goes on to interview almost all the people with whom Chris's paths crossed even though for a very short period. In one of the chapters, Jon goes into introspection and writes about his personal need for adventure and his trysts with nature through some of his own expeditions. He tries to draw parallel between his own self and that of Chris and comes to the conclusion that 'we had a similar intensity, a similar heedlessness, a similar agitation of soul' but none of them were suicidal. Some people may find this chapter out of place in the normal flow of the story but I found it quite relevant because being in almost the similar kind of frame of mind at some point in his life, author could relate to Chris so much better and perhaps it was just ill luck that Chris could not survive the ordeal(?) or his chosen path to self realization.

A very poignant and sensitive story of a young boy, especially the part where Chris's sister reminisces about their together time and the tearful adieu of the whole family as they see his last abode - the bus in the wilderness. It surely is one of the most haunting reads for me in recent past. This will leave the readers with a feeling of sadness and pity for the youth who found solace being closer to nature, was full of dreams but unfortunately did not get the time to give shape to his life during a very short stint in this world.

I really liked these passages from the book which sum up the author's best efforts to understand what went wrong in the case of McCandless.

"It would be easy to stereotype Christopher McCandless as another boy who felt too much, a loopy young man who read too many books and lacked even a modicum of common sense. But the stereotype isn't a good fit. McCandless wasn’t some reckless slacker, adrift and confused, racked by existential despair. To the contrary, His life hummed with meaning and purpose. But the meaning he wrested from existence lay beyond the comfortable path : McCandless distrusted the value of things that came easily. He demanded much of himself - more, in the end, than he could deliver."

"In the end, it looked like he was ready, perhaps to shed a little of the armor he wore around his heart, that upon returning to civilization, he intended to abandon the life of a solitary vagabond, stop running so hard from intimacy and become a member of the human community. But no body will ever come to know about what actually happened. His solitary thoughts ended with him."

App Review : If I Ran The Zoo

App Title : If I Ran The Zoo - Dr. Seuss

Publisher : Oceanhouse Media Inc.

Avaliable in : Android Market, Apple Store

I got this Mobile Application to review on any of the Apple Devices and I ran it on iPad. But this application is available for Android devices too.

The application opens with the main page offering three options - Read to Me (page turn requires user's swipe), Read it Myself (no voice), Auto Play (automated page turns)

Tap option on the images speaks out the name of the things or the characters that are tapped on. Two tap options are available for the text part : Tapping anywhere on the text repeats the sentence and tapping and holding the text repeats the whole paragraph once again.

"If I Ran the Zoo" is the story of a little boy - Gerald McGrew who is on a visit to a zoo but he is not excited to see the same old-fashioned lions and tigers there and he decides to bring some changes in the zoo if he gets to run the zoo.

To start with he would let the animals out of their confinements and then he would begin his search for some rare and unusual animals from different parts of the world. Perhaps a ten-footed lion, hens roosting on the topknots of other hens, strange bugs who would have propeller for rising high, an Elephant cat or weirdest animal families would be some as part of his new Zoo - the McGrew Zoo.

To catch such distinct animals, he would travel to those nooks and corners on the Earth which are not even in the geography books, he would even build a machine 'Bad-Animal-Catching-Machine' to catch ugly and vicious animals, he would arrange for special treats for his animals and his zoo would keep growing and growing. This zoo - McGrew Zoo would be one of its kind, really a Wonder, even better than Noah's Ark.

Dr. Seuss in his inimitable style lends his signature wackiness to the story through his made-up words, non-existent creatures and whimsical illustrations. I really liked the no-bars imagination of the central character McGrew and through this the subtle message of Dr. Seuss that thinking big and thinking large have no price tags on them.

A very interesting and funny book for young readers and I must compliment the Oceanhouse Media for extending the reach of Dr. Seuss's books to even wider audience.

However, I found a very small thing amiss in the application. While reading the book through 'Auto Play' option, I did not find any tab which could lead me to the main page again. I had to use the button of the device for the same.

Remembering Tagore

Rabindranath Tagore(1861-1941) - 'Gurudev' of the whole India, who bestowed the title of 'Mahatma' on the father of our nation, who gifted us our identity and whose verses are sung every day at every nook and corner of our country in the form of our National Anthem - is not called the 'Complete Institute of Literature' for nothing.

I know my words will miserably fall short of the kind of paeans the person of his stature deserve. However, I am feeling extremely glad to be reviewing a few of his works here.

Title : The Little Big Man

Publisher : Katha

Age : 3-5 years

I think every kid grows up hearing this - you are in the best phase of your life - Childhood and you are not realizing it. I did, when I was in my childhood years and now being a mother of two, I find myself telling the same to my kids. But then I realize perhaps that is the best part of this phase - kids do not consciously live or not live a day and their small world and its issues are big enough for them.

In fact, when the kids watch adults getting to exercise so much control over all the significant issues, decisions and also on them, they can't wait to grow up.

This is the essence of 'The Little Big Man' who wants to be as old as his father because then nobody would tell him to learn his lessons, he could leave his books, he would go wherever he likes, he would buy his own clothes when he likes and he would give money to whoever he wishes to. Through 'The Little Big Man' Tagore peeks into the mind of a little boy who is looking forward to growing up and to assume adult responsibilities.

The art work by Rajiv Eipe perfectly compliments the text. The little boy with front tooth missing looks absolutely endearing in his expression of - all grown up and responsible.

Rajiv is involved in doing animation and graphics for Television.

Title : Clouds and Waves

Publisher : Katha

Age : 3-5 years

A charming tale of a little girl who is tempted time and again by the clouds and the waves to join them in the games that they play in their magical world. The world where they play with silver moon and golden dawn. For a child this surely is an irresistible temptation but she simply declines their invite every time because what she likes the most is to be with her mother. She does not need to go to any enchanting world when she has nicer and better games that she can play with her favourite playmate. A sweet little tale conveying the tender love between a mother and her little one.

The illustrations that spread across both the pages are beautiful art work. The inquisitiveness of the little girl, her full-of-life twinkling eyes and the tender affectionate bond that she shares with her mother are brilliantly captured by the illustrator Sunaina Coelho.

Title : The Land of Cards

Publisher : Puffin Classics

Age : 10+

'The Land of Cards' is a potpourri of some of Tagore's best works - poems, short stories and plays, translated from Bengali to English by Radha Chakravarty. A wonderful assortment to give children a little glimpse of the beautiful world created by Tagore's pen.

Poems - which offer different flavors in each piece - ranging from hilarious odd rhymes like the one in which a cat is trying to convince the fish to be its meal, to the ones which are brimming with sensitive emotions. The entertaining 'The Invention of Shoes' tells the story of the birth of shoes while the 'Hero' reveals the inner desire of a son to be by her mother's side and to protect her always. Through the poems like 'Two Bighas of Land', Rabindranath Tagore took up the social issues which were suffocating our country in ancient times.

The title play 'The Land of Cards' brings out the conventional restrictions of the society and in another play 'The Post Office', a boy being restrained to closed confines tries to live his life through the people who are busy in seemingly mundane activities in the free outside world and unknowingly teaches them the lesson to take pleasure in whatever they are doing.

'Kabuliwala' - a simple story bringing out the yearning of a father for his daughter, is one of the great classics which are lustrous ageless gems. I remember having enjoyed reading this story as part of course book during school years. Such are the pieces of writings which defy all barriers of age and time.

'The Land of Cards' is a book which can be read, enjoyed and appreciated by children and adults alike, offering them a peep into the world of literary genius.

Book Review : Elliot Stone and the Mystery of the Summer Vacation Sea Monster

Title : Elliot Stone and the Mystery of the Summer Vacation Sea Monster

Author : LP Chase

Illustrated By : Carl Di Rocco

Publisher : Blue Marlin Publications

ISBN : 978-0-9792918-7-6

Elliot Stone has just completed his fourth grade and apparently his summer vacation is ruined because his family is going to be spending the entire month in Vermont Cabin on Lake Bomoseen. This means he would be missing the company of his two best friends - Jake and Cassie and the worst of all, he would be missing Cassie's graduation party which is supposed to be a very high profile party. These are good enough reasons for Elliot to be in a foul mood and to be disliking the vacation destination.

But this does not last long and his mood perks up considerably when his father shares with him the legend of Lock Ness Monster. Now Elliot has something to look forward to, perhaps seeing or meeting a monster in the Lake Bomoseen itself. Incidentally, soon after reaching the lake he does spot something strange in the lake or is it just his imagination? The story after this is full of adventure, suspense, making new friends, learning new lessons and much more. There are some more interesting surprises awaiting him in the place which is going to be their home for the next month or so.

LP Chase has masterly weaved mystery and intrigue in the plot which makes it an entertaining read. What is commendable about the book is how the thoughts and voices of children belonging to that age group are so authentically captured in the narrative. The story has an added twist when the young minds get to brainstorm in order to find a solution to a problem that their parents are facing. The thought process of children and their spirit to solve the problem lend a very positive angle to the whole story. The story also conveys a very subtle message that big or small, each one can contribute towards leading the family out of any sort of crisis.

Overall, 'Elliot Stone and the Mystery of the Summer Vacation Sea Monster' is an engaging fun-filled book which young readers would surely like and relate to.