Let me say straight out that I don't like monkeys. But I set my personal primate feelings aside to look at app Hat Monkey (2014), trusting in both creator Chris Haughton and developer Fox & Sheep — whose Nighty Night I liked a lot — to provide an enjoyable experience. Happily, the breakdancing, "meep-meep!"-ing Monkey soon won me over.

The app opens with Monkey dancing to surf jazz music, then offers a simple menu (scene selection, language options, a link to info about Haughton's books, and a link to download more Fox & Sheep apps). From there the app begins a prompt-and-activity structure ("Monkey is coming! Can you open the door?") that continues throughout the app as Monkey makes himself at home.



The illustrations feature stylized shapes and a limited palette of hot pinks, purples, and oranges in high contrast with Monkey's royal blue.

What could easily be familiar Pat the Bunny territory instead takes a meta, super-modern direction. After the prompt "Can you send Monkey a text?" choose one of four emoji to send to Monkey — who's busy reading Haughton's picture book A Bit Lost, by the way — and watch his cute and funny responses.

   (Send the banana, and Monkey surreptitiously licks his phone.) Other prompts include giving Monkey a high-five, learning Monkey's sweet dance moves, talking to him on the phone using your device's microphone, and playing saxophones together. The app ends with reading Monkey a bedtime story (Haughton's Oh No, George!, of course) and turning off the light, sending him off to contented, lightly snoring sleep.

Preschool- and early-primary-perfect humor — including a more-endearing-than-gross fart joke — is communicated through all the app's elements: the deadpan text; the illustrations; the animations, especially in the movements of Monkey's huge, expressive eyes; and sound effects. Read a making-of blog post by Haughton here.

Available for iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch (requires iOS 7.0 or later); $0.99. Recommended for preschool and early primary users.

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