Max the Apple: A Multimodal Research Project - How Can We Best Exploit the Interactive Possibilities Presented by New Media in Stories for Children?

Abstract

This research project poses the question: How can we best exploit the interactive possibilities presented by new media in stories for children? By way of a response, I developed an interactive narrative for children aged five to ten years, Max the Apple. This multimodal picture book presents themes of friendship, loss, grief, and the cycles of nature, as well the representation of a range of cultural practices that respond to these themes. The story engages on three tiers: the first tier is the first-person narrative that is communicated by text, simple visuals, and a voice-over narration by a five-year-old child; the second tier provides learning content associated with the story’s themes and accessed via interactive buttons; and the third tier presents games also related to the themes that further develop the participant’s investment in the narrative. The project aims to present an entertaining and challenging learning environment by retaining the affordances of traditional media, such as conventional narrative arcs and imaginative readership, while exploiting the possibilities of active participation offered by new media.