Owl and Cat

Owl and Cat was created by De NitroLab. It is an e-book based off of a poem by Edward Lear. The first three scenes are available for free so you can see what you're getting, but to get the rest of the book is $.99. Price: $0.99

Device Requirements: Compatible with iPad.Requires iOS 4.3 or later.

Developmental Appropriateness: This e-book is a little different - it was designed to promote parent-child book-reading and so does note have a "Read to me" function. Parents or an older person must read this book along with a young child. What it does include is a nifty style of incorporating interactive features. You can move most of the objects/characters around and at the same time. So you can kinda act out the story or whatever else you want to do, creating a different kind of storytelling experience. The text really takes a backseat to the interactive features. While I understand, and like, that the goal is have a more creative joint storytelling experience, this is still a book-reading experience. Rating: 4/5 (aim for around 3 years)

Balance: So given all that you can "play" with, and the fact that the text is not straightforward and in more of a poem form, I'm afraid the text will just be lost. The text itself is pretty small on some pages and the font is harder to recognize for little kids. Rating: 3/5

Sustainability: I think the illustrations are cute and kids will like them and want to play with them. Hopefully, with some guidance, they can come up with many different scenarios to act out. Rating: 4/5

Parental Involvement: This is the strength of the app - that it really does require a parent to be involved and to really take part in the whole experience - not just read the text. Rating: 5/5

Total: 16 out of 20: 4 stars