Esther’s by Brad and Alleson Buchanan
Esther’s is a short piece of interactive children’s literature about two mice eating at a child’s (both real and make-believe) cafe. No age range is indicated, but the simple premise and the straightforward plot (the mice want a particular meal and are happy once they get it) make me think that the authors are aiming at children of about 3 to 5 years old. The piece is implemented well and accompanied by a small selection of cute, professionally executed pictures.
I played through the game myself, but then decided to also play it with one of my children. My eldest is now 6 years old and I usually read books to him that are far more demanding – from a narrative and language perspective – than Esther’s; so I decided to play it with the 4-year-old. Her native language is Dutch, so I had to do off-the-cuff translation, but I don’t think this posed a problem. Did she enjoy it? Yes, and she wanted to read it again afterwards. (But couldn’t because it was bed time.) So one can certainly count that as a success.
Still, I’m not convinced that Esther’s was as successful as it could have been. While reading it to my daughter, I noticed more clearly than when I read it myself that the game makes some heavy and perhaps unnecessary demands on the young listener. The basic idea of mice wanting specific food and not being able to communicate with the cafe owner is easily grasped. But the foods in question were highly unfamiliar. Even I myself had to look up mimosas. In addition, my 4-year-old has only a vague knowledge of avocados and guacamole, and none at all of tapioca pudding. Possibly this is a cultural issue. But I think my daughter would have been more invested in the game if she had had a better grasp of the kinds of food that were required, and therefore of the steps needed to make them.
This problem is exacerbated by the rather complex cognitive task of keeping in mind the current inventory of the mice. Children are really good at grasping and remembering narratives. I read long books over many nights with my daughter, and she’ll still know what happened to the horse ten chapters ago, no problem. Story is easy. But I noticed that it was really hard for her to mentally keep track of the foodstuff that was on the table in Esther’s. The mice now have… an empty cup, a slice of orange, toast with the cinnamon & sugar still on it, a quesadilla with cheese and some guacamole. I mean, that is hard. But if you’re not keeping track of this, you don’t really understand how far you are along in the story; what you have done; what still needs to be done. It makes me wonder why the authors chose this particular form for the game, rather than a more traditional narrative that requires less complex non-story state tracking.
So, yes, it was fun and visually attractive, and I’m happy to see more interactive fiction for young children. But I also have some doubts about the design choices that went into Esther’s.