Gulangyu the Musical Rescue

Gulangyu the Musical Rescue App Review

App Info

Price: Free

Overview

This app is a cross between ebook and digital movie, focused on saving the Earth by minimizing climate change. It’s an animated and narrated musical set against water-color-like backdrops of scenes from around the world.

Features include:

  • 8 chapters
  • Over 80 minutes of uninterrupted content 
  • available
  • Narration in English or Chinese
  • Vivid backgrounds and professional musical selections

 

Quality

Gulangyu The Musical Rescue is a very high quality app that will delight and entertain children (and perhaps adults!) while educating on the causes, dangers, and solutions to climate change. Each page includes captions for the narration.

One minor drawback is that the book does not have a well-developed navigation system. There are no page-back or page-forward buttons within the story that similar productions offer. This would make it tough for kids to find their way back to favorite parts. This function can be accomplished in the index, if needed, however.

Education

The authors and developers of this ebook have done an outstanding job of communicating information, very real concerns about climate change and its effects, as well as practical personal steps that even children can take to begin to mitigate the problem. The challenges of climate change and its impacts are clearly explained in a memorable and understandable way. The characters are relatable, and yet for most U.S. children, will seem exotic and interesting. The book has a nice cultural flavor while remaining inclusive and accessible.

Entertainment

Gulangyu the Musical Rescue includes eight chapters of content, and is over 80 minutes long to listen to straight through. There are six original songs included, and they are fun and easy to sing along with, especially given the captions. The main character, Xiao Rui, is a young girl who goes on a magical quest around the world to learn about climate change and how to save the planet. The pictures on each page are vivid and gorgeous water-color-like drawings of each scene, and many pages include animations such as figures moving across the screen.

One aspect that children may miss, however, are interactive activities. Many ebooks have interactions on their pages for children to explore, or mini-games embedded in the story that entertain readers. This book does not seem to have those, and some children may be a bit disappointed when they find that out.

Value

This ebook is a great value. It’s free on both the App Store and on Google Play, well-made, and interesting. It addresses an important set of concepts from current global events, and includes a wealth of content.

Child Friendliness

This app is very child-friendly. It contains no advertisements or in-app purchases. There is a link to more apps in the App Store by the same developer on the home page, but it is quite difficult to get back to the home page once the story has begun.

  • NO external links
  • NO social media
  • NO 3rd party ads
  • NO in-app purchase 
  • YES unprotected link to more apps by developer in App Store
Gulangyu the Musical Rescue
Gulangyu the Musical Rescue
Gulangyu the Musical Rescue is a well-researched and interesting ebook designed to help children of all ages learn about the causes and dangers of climate change, and to discover some practical steps that they can take to begin to change the world.
Quality
Education
Entertainment
Value
Child Friendly
4.7