Gro Book: The Adventures of Sophie the Sweater

Gro Book by Gro Play is a book that may bring some nostalgia to some parents. It's one of those stories where you can choose different what happens in the story at various points and see where it leads you. I not only like these stories because I think they're fun, but also because I like that it leads kids to think about plot and storytelling while experiencing a story on many levels.

Given the multiple paths of the story, I think turning these types of books digital can be advantageous and really take it to the next level, which is why I chose to review Gro Book. Price: $3.99

Device Requirements: Compatible with iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPhone 4S, iPhone 5, iPod touch (3rd generation), iPod touch (4th generation), iPod touch (5th generation) and iPad. Requires iOS 4.3 or later. This app is optimized for iPhone 5.

Developmental Appropriateness: The story is fun with a reuse, environmental theme, especially given the format. But don't expect a story that has a great moral or memorable message - it's a story that works with the format. It's fine - but I would not say that the format particularly enhances the story itself. It's a little difficult to pinpoint a target age as I think the book is appropriate for a range of ages. I'm going to put it at 7, which is on the older side because I think 6 yos can more fully take advantage of all the different paths of the story. At this age, they can remember paths they chose before, and also now also make connections between some of their choices. Don't get me wrong, a 5 yo or younger will fully enjoy this story as well. Rating: 4/5 (aim for around 6 years).

Balance: There's not too much here in terms of taking advantage of the features offered by tablets. The software of course helps the path choosing, so that you're not keeping your fingers on certain pages and flipping forward to a specific page to see what happens like back in the day. But otherwise, there's just narration and the option to turn it on and off and to take away or add the text. I'm not sure how I feel about the latter. There's certainly something to be said for just listening to a story - but maybe not in ebook format where kids have come to expect some level of interactivity. There's actually a lot of text - so with no interactivity on the pages and no words to follow, kids may get bored. The simplicity is fine, there's just not much that elevates the experience. Rating: 3/5

Sustainability: With so many paths, there's certainly re-read value here. Some of the paths repeat so don't expect a new story each time at every turn, but there's enough different paths to keep you interested at least the first few reads. Rating: 4.5/5

Parental Involvement: Nothing explicit here. It would have been nice to include some questions for parents to ask while they read or after - especially to compare and contrast the different paths. Rating: 3/5

Total: 14.5/5 = 4 stars

*I received this app for free for review purposes


Trend Alert: Check out these other great apps that let you take part in the story:

For those looking for more interactivity and a classic story in a new way: Little Red Riding Hood by Nosy Crow

For those with younger Elmo fans: Elmo the Musical -Storyteller


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Little Monster at School

Little Monster at School was created by Wanderful, Inc. and is based on the book by Mercer Mayer originally published by Living Books and may already be familiar to many of you. It follows Little Monster and his day at school, the lessons he learns there and shows you his friends. It includes a fully functional Spanish version (any text in the illustrations change to Spanish too!), with possibly more languages to come, making the price a little more understandable. Price: $4.99

Device Requirements: Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Requires iOS 4.0 or later.

Developmental Appropriateness: This is a really cute and relatable story, with some great interactive features. Kids can really take part in the "lessons" at school with Little Monster. When they work with numbers and letters on the chalkboard, kids can tap on the numbers and letters to hear them labeled and practice right along with the class. Aside from the functional interactive features, kids can also follow along with the text highlighting and also tap on individual words to hear them repeated. They've really added some great touches to bring the story alive and give it a different feel from the print version.

Where I do wish there was more is for it to provide prompts or a review at the end for deeper learning. (While it may seem unfair to criticize for this as I've rarely seen this done in e-books, it's time to raise the bar!) The story actually covers a lot here - routines, school lessons, helping friends out, being different, etc. Some of this may not come through with just the story itself.
Rating: 4.5/5 (aim for around 4 years).

Balance: This is really where I was impressed. First, there are two modes - a let me play mode where kids can tap their hearts out and a read to me mode - standard where you just follow along and the some of "interactive parts" automatically go and it becomes a bit more like watching a tv show. This is actually one of the recommendations we (Cooney Center) made after our e-book report. It allows parents and kids to have two different experiences depending on the purpose of the book reading. In addition to the two modes, there are a bunch of settings so parents can further control the type of experience. One of the settings addresses my personal pet peeve of where the tapping on things can interrupt the text reading or overlap with other interactive features. You can actually turn this off so that nothing overlaps. It'll also highlight where all the hotspots are if you want too. In terms of all the features, there actually are a lot. Most are functional and relevant to the plot, but a few aren't - like finding a hidden object on each page. But, that being said, given the modes and settings, at least the distraction level can be controlled in a way. Rating: 4.5/5

Sustainability: This is an award winning story for reason - it really is a good story! I usually try not to comment too much on the quality of the story because I don't consider myself a children's story expert, but I did really enjoy it. And I think the two modes will really stretch the usage of this app. Rating: 5/5

Parental Involvement: There's a big plus and a big minus here. The plus is that some of the "deeper learning" I mentioned earlier is available through a teacher's resource guide that provides extra activities that go along with the story. You can take a free sneak peek but the full guide needs to be purchased. The minus is that you can't turn off the narration! Children's books, to me, is a great and easy way for parents to spend time with their kids. With the narration here, it kinda takes away from that. Sure, parents can still read along, but it's not quite the same. Could just be a simple setting. Rating: 4/5

Total: 18 out of 20 = 5 stars

Monkeys in My Head

Monkeys in My Head was created by PaperPlane Co. It's an ebook that aims to help children cope with internal bullies. Bullying, in any form, has become a recent hot topic. I was curious as to how this e-book was going to address this important issue. Price: $1.99

Device Requirements: Compatible with iPad.Requires iOS 5.1 or later.

Developmental Appropriateness: This book is really aimed at an individual who has personally experienced bullying and or has low-self esteem and are beating his/herself up inside. While it does not deal with bully prevention or really even how to deal with bullying- internal or external, it does in the least send the message that you are not alone in feeling these feelings. To the extent that this book may help a child who is dealing with these issues (in a clinical sense), I will have to say that this is not my area of developmental expertise. I think this is definitely a book parents should read first and see if they think it is appropriate and relevant for their child. It deals with a pretty serious matter as poor Pirourette (the main character) has to struggle with these demons inside her head. For a child who may be dealing with similar issues, this book may be a good way to get the conversation started. Alone, the book may not offer any "solutions." For kids who may not be experiencing these issues, the book may be a little confusing and contains some inappropriate and aggressive behavior from the monkeys and a frustrated Pirourette who screams, "Shut up!" I would definitely say that the recommended target age by the developers of 4 and up is too young for the approach of this e-book on this more mature topic. The "coping" that takes place in this book - where Pirourette mentally "cages" the monkeys requires some cognitive strength that a younger child may not understand yet. Rating: 3/5 (Aim for around 8 years)

Balance: In terms of the e-book features, this book is pretty stylized in terms of the art and overall feel. The focus is on the story and less on literacy development. The text doesn't highlight, it's presented in different fonts and sizes - so probably not as beneficial for improving reading skills, which is fine. The interactive features are kinda sparse, but when they are there, they are related to the story. Rating: 4/5

Sustainability: This is a hard one. I think for the very specific group of kids, they might identify with this and love it. But overall, when comparing to other books and picking out any book to read for fun or bedtime, or whatever, this isn't going to exactly be the go to book. Rating: 3.5/5

Parental Involvement - This is absolutely a book a parent should read with their child, at least the first few times. It begs for conversation beyond the book. This book does a good job of starting the conversation with kids who may need it - its up to parents/teachers, etc. to follow up and finish it. Rating: 4/5

Total: 14.5 out of 20  - 3 stars.

Disclosure - I received this app for free for review purposes.

A Garden for Pig

A Garden for Pig was developed by Kane Miller Books. It's a story about a pig who lives on an apple farm and gets sick of eating just apples and wants some vegetables - a cute story about a pig and his food. Price: $3.99

Device Requirements: Compatible with iPad.Requires iOS 4.2 or later.

Developmental Appropriateness: The topic is is appropriate and timely, given the whole organic food trend, and animals are always popular characters with kids. Surprisingly, even though this e-book does have some interactive elements, it feels like a physical book that's been pdf'ed. Not that it's a bad thing. The illustrations are great on their own and I don't think the little extra "e-book-ified" elements really add all that much. Actually, the illustrations are "multi-media" and looks like newspaper was used to make the trees and stuff like that which I think would actually look better in person rather than on a screen. There are some recipes and a bit more information on specific vegetables that are sprinkled throughout - a nice touch, but not kid friendly. They do not read aloud and are not written on a kid's level. There's narration and some light sound effects here and there, and that's more or less it. Again, there's nothing wrong with that - but I'm not rating on how good a book this is, but how good of an e-book this is. Basically, it's a cute book, but folks might prefer just the plain ol' print version. Rating: 3.5/5 (aim for around 5).


Balance: I like the addition of recipes and info on the vegetables and gardening- could have gone farther. And maybe the recipes could have been separate from the story. Some of the other interactive features seem to really just for fun and possibly distracting and don't add much. Rating: 3.5/5


Sustainability: It's a cute story with some humor. Kids will come back for the story, but probably not for the interactive features... Rating: 3.5/5


Parental Involvement: The cards for recipes and extra info encourage parents to elaborate on the points and do some cooking! It's a nice way to lead into cooking together. And perhaps to get kids to eat their vegetables too! Note that this food focuses on gardening and home grown food, but the recipes are not necessarily "healthy ones" - just so that that's not an expectation. Rating: 4/5


Total: 14.5 out of 20 = 3 stars

Mini Fish Tale

Mini Fish Tale was created by Bakul Books. It's an e-book about a girl who receives 2 fish for her birthday and one dies and she needs to figure out what to do to make the lonely fish happy. It also includes closing and puzzle activities with marine life trivia aside from the e-book. Price: Free

Device Requirements: Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad.Requires iOS 5.0 or later.

Developmental Appropriateness: This is a simple and very basic story and e-book. The only "extra" features are narration and text highlighting. While there is no problem with that, I do have some slight problems with this book, especially when it comes to promoting literacy. First, the text highlighting is not accurate. It does not highlight when the words are spoken. Second, there are a couple of grammatical errors in the text. The main one being "fishes", which appears multiple times. Plural forms of words is something that young kids tend to over generalize and can be confusing given all the exceptions in the English language. As an e-book presented in English, it's very important to get these basics correct because kids pick these things up. 


What I DO like are the extra activities. The coloring and puzzles may seem like a standard addition nowadays, but what they've added here are some facts to go along with the picture. Although some of the facts could be reworded to be more kid-friendly, it's a nice way to extend the learning. I wish there was more. Rating: 2/5 (aim for around 4 years of age).


Balance: Everything is simple here. the activities are kept separate form the story. The pictures are colorful, but I wonder if that's enough to keep kids engaged in an otherwise bare story. Rating: 4/5


Sustainability: I think adding the activities with the facts was a nice way to add extra life to this app. But there are only 3 pictures and facts for each. Also, some of the production quality is a bit lower than many other e-books out there - and I think kids will notice. Rating: 3/5


Parental Involvement: Again, with e-books, there's always co-reading. Parents can also elaborate on the facts in the activities. Rating: 4/5


Total: 13 out of 20 = 3 stars

The Tree I See

The Tree I See was created by Aridan Books and is a sweet story about friendship and helping each other out. It was conceptualized by a neurosurgery physician assistant and claims to have been designed to help working memory and re-call ability. Let's see how and whether it does so. Price: $0.99

Device Requirements: Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad.Requires iOS 3.1 or later

Developmental Appropriateness: This is a solid e-book. The story topic is appropriate for young kids - maybe not totally exciting, but is a cute and heartwarming story about a tree who makes lasting friends in the forest by helping each other out.  The interactive features are relevant to the story and tapping on the characters will make them repeat what they've said in the story which is a nice touch to reinforce plot points. A feature I thought had a lot of potential is how the text is presented. It automatically appears in a box as it's being read and then goes away so kids can interact with the pictures. If you tap on an arrow within the text box, it enlarges in the center of the page. I thought this is a great opportunity for parents and teachers to focus kids on the text and help build their literacy skills. However, it does not highlight word by word, repeat if tapped on, provide definitions, etc. It only highlights a few words at a time, and you can press play to hear the entire text read again. It relies on the parent or teacher to provide extra support, enhancement, and reinforcement. So while I like the thought, it could have been taken further.


So what about improving working memory and re-call? From the iTunes description, it says it does so through "consistent illustrative theme and gradual character integration, to maintain focus and assist with the cognitive development of your child." Don't many books do this? Yes, the tree remains constant, and each new friend is added to the picture as they are introduced in the story. So illustratively, the story is updated and provides the cues for plot points, but the text does not update and build upon/repeat the characters as have been seen in many other children's stories. And for re-call, how are we measuring this? I thought maybe there would be prompts for kids to answer questions or to think about what happened in the story, but there aren't any. One great way to improve retention is to make things explicit and to verbalize it, and I don't see that here. So yes, while I think having the characters on the page repeat what they say in the text is nice, I don't otherwise see what else separates this e-book from other good e-books for comprehension and re-call. 

Overall, The Tree I See adds some nice touches to help learning, but maybe over-emphasizes the claims. Rating: 4/5 (aim for around 5 years)


Balance: For the most part, the interactive elements help to enhance the story. At times though, tapping on them make them all overlap, especially later on the in the story with more characters involved. Rating: 4/5


Sustainability: It took me a few readings to really start appreciating some of the touches here, so I think parents and kids will too and discover new things with each reading. Rating: 4/5


Parental Involvement: There's no laid out role for parents, but I think the text feature provide good opportunity and a good cue for parents to highlight words or plot points or whatever. Rating: 4/5


Total: 16 out of 20 = 4 stars


Of note: 100% of Net proceeds will be given to Autism Speaks for the month of May and June. Thereafter 10% of our proceeds will continue to be given to Autism Speaks. 


Disclosure: I received this app for free for review purposes.

The Rooster Who Lost His Voice

The Rooster Who Lost His Voice was created by iMagine machine, LLC. This is a great example of how some apps are really starting to blur the line between whether it's a book or a show. Rooster is definitely a story, told in a folktale kinda way - but it doesn't have any text and is 18-minutes long, putting it in a category all on its own Price: the initial 3 pages are free, but to purchase the full "book" is $4.99

Device Requirements: Compatible with iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPhone 4S, iPod touch (3rd generation), iPod touch (4th generation) and iPad.Requires iOS 4.0 or later.


Developmental Appropriateness: This is a well-done story with great graphics and effects. On the spectrum of book to show/movie, this leans heavier on the show/movie side. One of the few book feature is the tone of the story is told like a classic tale, not like a tv show or movie. And while some scenes advance on their own, there are moments where the child must "turn the page". But even this is not the typical swipe, it's pulling a rope, like you would to close or open the curtains to a stage show. This little pull feature along with very limited interactive features is just enough to make sure kids are still paying attention and not just passively watching a show. The main interactive feature is I guess comprehension questions. Kids have to choose what "gift" they think the characters are giving. I like this "active thinking" idea, and I think it's an important feature to have especially in this format, but I think there could be more feedback here. The picture options at least need a label as they are not always obvious what they are. And the answers require background knowledge not given by the story so a little reinforce/feedback would be nice to make sure kids "got it". 


So, since there is no text here, is this as "literacy-focused" as a book? Are apps like this one even meant to be thought of as "literacy-focused"? There is no doubt that listening and I guess in this case, watching a story has great value. I guess I'm just wondering where do we draw the line - do we need to? Rating: 4/5 (aim for around 5 years)


Balance: The developers really kept it simple here in terms of interactivity, but I don't think they lost anything in terms of engagement. Not sure where to put this, but one feature I'd like to see added would be a page menu or something. 18 minutes can be a bit long for a story - depending on the situation, and there's no way to jump to a certain page - you start from the beginning each time. Actually, mine froze once, and I had to just scroll through everything again to get to where I was. Rating: 4/5


Sustainability: I think it's a cute story kids would keep coming back to. It'd be great if the questions switched up a little so that kids don't already know all the answers if it's a repeated reading.  Rating: 4/5


Parental Involvement: So without the text, it kinda takes away that co-reading experience that books automatically give. But perhaps this will free up the parents to elaborate on the story and provide some  "active thinking" prompts that could go along with the comp questions. Rating: 3/5


Total: 15 out of 20 = 4 stars


Disclosure - I received this app for free for review purposes.

Mirta - The Super Fly

Mirta - The Super Fly was developed by Next Stage. It is an e-book about Mirta, the Fly's mission to travel the world, but first she must overcome an obstacle - the window. Ha. It's offered in both English and Spanish - audio AND text. Price - Free!

Device Requirements: Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad.Requires iOS 3.0 or later

Developmental Appropriateness: The themes of the story are appropriate - determination, having a goal, and "flexible thinking." I'm putting that in quotes because that's what the author talks about in the book. Not to give it all away, but the story ends with a question, "What was Mirta lacking?" Answer: Flexible Thinking. So here is where I think the app is great and at the same time not great - is that possible? I think it's great that it's presenting this comprehension question. Hopefully, it makes kids think about the story and learn from it. What I didn't think was great was the the explanation was so technical and not kid-friendly - I don't even think it was parent-friendly! It's educator or expert language. Sure, the answer is presented under "Author's note" but it is read aloud as if part of the story, and without it, there is no ending to the book. So I think it kinda loses the kid  - and at the most crucial part! Rating: 3/5 (aim for around 6 years).


Balance: The interactivity is all about the sound effects. You can tap on the picture to hear the sound effects that are already heard in the narration. I actually wouldn't mind to see a little variation - or it could at least capitalize on some plot points like Mirta smacking into the window continuously. Seeing or making that into a different interactive element would highlight the story. The graphics/pictures are all presented in this kinda muted style. Finally, the focus is on listening to the story, so the text may be a bit small and there is no text highlighting. Rating: 3/5


Sustainability: The story has some subtle humor that I think kids will like. However, it kinda seems like it lacks an ending. Rating: 3/5


Parental Involvement: Again, I like the comprehension question - this book almost requires parents to elaborate on the ending with their child. Rating: 4/5


Total - 13 out of 20 - 3 stars

The Dream by Swipea

The Dream is an e-book by Chong Siang Kai. It's a fictional story that also aims to teach facts and about the Arabic world. It includes a bunch of mini-games too - currently its free, with in -app purchase options (mainly for the mini-games). Price: Free

Device Requirements: Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad.Requires iOS 4.3 or later.

Developmental Appropriateness: From the description, this e-book sounds great - and for the most part, it lives up to the description. It's a solid e-book that was definitely designed with learning in mind. I really like how it's a fictional story and then uses the interactive elements to teach about the Arabic culture and environment. For example, you can tap on the camel, and a definition will pop up and also give some facts about camels, or you can tap on a word, like Ahmad's name, and it'll give you what it means in Arabic. There's also a separate mode where you can just search through for the interactive elements, but it doesn't narrate the text - so more of an exploring mode and you can focus on just the story in the Read to Me mode. The activities are kept separate from the story. 

So why am I not more excited about this e-book? While the illustrations are nice and kid-friendly, I think I just didn't find the book as engaging as it could be. I guess this is for a few reasons... The text, especially with the facts are not overly complicated, but not exactly kid-friendly. Kids like a bit of humor, it helps to engage them, leading to better memory and learning. I also thought the interactive elements could have been better and taken it to the next step. First, saying what you are defining first is important! It just jumps into the definition without labels. Second, the definitions are just paired with a static picture. Some animation or videos could be used to highlight the definitions. Finally, I think the activities could be beefed-up. A couple do add to cultural knowledge, like the clothing and the food, but they are pretty one-dimensional games. The rest are more like ads. Rating: 4/5 (aim for around 7 years).


Balance: Overall, it's pretty simple, and not too much distraction. But when there is an interactive element, the narration for the facts will overlap with the narration of the story. Since there is a separate mode to find the facts, maybe the facts should not be on in the Read to Me mode, or at least not accessible until the text is read. Rating: 4/5


Sustainability: Like I said, I would love for this e-book to be more engaging. To me, but maybe others will differ, I didn't the tone of the e-book to be too kid-oriented. Rating: 3/5


Parental Involvement: Parents can obviously read with their child, and they might actually learn some facts too! This e-book is a great start to teaching starting conversations about other cultures. Rating: 4/5


Total: 15 out of 20 = 4 stars

Squiggles!

Squiggles! was developed by Lazoo Worldwide, Inc. and is a drawing app aimed at preschoolers as most of what you draw are squiggly lines. You might be thinking, "All you draw is squiggly lines?!! What's the point?" Well, it's actually a cute app. After you draw the lines, which are part of a template of cars, or beginnings of cotton candy, you can set the picture in motion where the lines become the motion of the car, or the swirls of cotton candy. This is actually kinda a similar idea to my last review, Magic Doodles, but for younger kids. Also included is an e-book about an adventure with Miku and Bobu that of course involves squiggles. Price: Free (right now, at least).

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


Developmental Appropriateness: As you can tell from my intro, I was a little skeptical at first, but I think this app won me over. It's a nice way to encourage young kids, who may not be able to draw much yet, to draw and be more imaginative for what they can create than on straight up paper pencil. The e-book is pretty cute too. I actually wonder why it is not a larger part of the app - it actually can be pretty easily missed. On the main menu, there are two icons - one for an instructional animated video with Miku and Babu for what to do in the drawing app and how to make your squiggles work and then the book, neither icons are flashy. I'd almost even say the book should be the prime, and the drawing is the activity tied to the book. That being said, although much of the book has to do with squiggles, I wish more of the interactivity was for the reader to make the squiggles that functioned as part of the plot so that it's more of a hands-on book. In terms of the drawing app, it's pretty kid-friendly, easy-to-use. If the target is 2-3-year-olds, I'd even make the tools at the bottom bigger. Rating: 4/5 (aim for around 3 years)


Balance: The overall feel of the app is very kid-oriented with plenty of instruction. Some of the features in the e-book are more frivolous than others. Like I mentioned, it would be great if it could incorporate some of the interactivity of the drawing part. Rating: 4/5


Sustainability: The story is cute, and the drawing is fun, so it's a great deal - kinda like two apps in one. You can also save your drawings and share with others. Rating: 5/5


Parental Involvement: Although there is not quite a direct role for parents, there is plenty for them to do - read the story together, help with the drawings and use them as conversation starters, etc. Given the young age this app targets, parents will likely have to be involved as well. Rating: 4/5


Total: 17 out of 20: 4 stars

Sam and Ben

Sam and Ben was created by InteractBooks, LLC. It's a story about twins and celebrates their similarities and differences. So if you have or know of young twins, or even young siblings, this may be a book for you. Price: $2.99

Device Requirements: Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad.Requires iOS 3.2 or later

Developmental Appropriateness: This is a heart warming story that parents can find useful to read with their child to highlight how everyone has similarities and differences, whether its with twins, siblings, or friends. So it's an appropriate subject matter. The illustrations are watercolors, which may be more appreciated by parents more than children. If your young child is not used to watercolor drawings, it may be more difficult for them to recognize some of the more abstract and smaller objects. Remember that research has shown that young children learn better from books with realistic than cartoon drawings. Rating: 4/5 (aim for around 3 years)


Balance: Although this book is meant for parents to read with their child, I'd like to see some more attention given to the text - like bigger font or text highlighting - something. There is sometimes quite a bit of text, so let's make some good use out of it, even if it's just bringing attention to it to improve print concepts for these young kids. There's a lot of hotspots - mostly related to the story. So again, given all the hotspots, the text can really just get lost. Also, there are activities at the end of the book and you can access just the activities from the main menu. I kinda like this, so that the activities are much of a distraction from the book, but add a little more fun for the kids. Rating: 3/5


Sustainability: Kids like stories, and there is even a bit of poop humor in this one. Kids will enjoy the hotspots and the activities may keep them coming back. Rating: 4/5


Parental Involvement: This is really meant for parents to read with their child. So ... Rating: 4/5


Total: 15 out of 20 : 4 stars


Disclosure: I received this app for free for review purposes.

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

iSammy

iSammy was created by Merx Global LLC for 4 to 8 year-olds and is an e-Book about Sammy the Suitcase. This e-Book differs from others in that it leaves a word blank on each page that you and child can fill in and record, taking the involvement with the story to a different place than if just reading a story. It also provides a boy or girl mode, which basically changes whether the boy or girl character in the story becomes a bigger character and more easily identified with. Kinda interesting, right? Price - Free (For now at least)

Device Requirements: Compatible with iPad.Requires iOS 3.2.2 or later.

Developmental Appropriateness: The story is about a suitcase that has travelled with a family on many trips but is then left in the attic, passed over for newer suitcases, but then finds a new purpose. So it allows for many opportunities for conversation - traveling, different types of vacations, feelings, etc. The fill in the blank feature really does amplify these opportunities. Parents have to help their child figure out what words are appropriate to finish the sentence and in so doing, could spark conversations of their own experiences. I also like the idea of having the boy or girl option to help your child identify better with the character in the book. Children can learn a little bit about how to take their own perspective - for example, a girl choosing the girl option could think about their own favorite toy or a girl choosing the boy option could learn about taking the perspective of others and think about what a boy's favorite toy would be as opposed to her own. 


But let me point out that this app really does have to be used with a parent. They will need help filling in the blank. More importantly, the app does not read to you, so someone who can read will need to be present. It would be nice if there was the option for it to be read, especially after everything has been filled out so folks can hear the complete story. In terms of usability, again, I think it requires an adult to help record the words and erase if they want to redo. Although I appreciate that this app almost forces a parent to be present, I'm sure parents would also appreciate the option for their child to independently use the app. Rating: 4/5 (aim for around 6 years).

Balance: There is a lot going on here. There is a squirrel and a moose on every page that repeats your recordings in a funny voice. Otherwise, they have nothing to do with the story. There are also a lot of hotspots on each page, none of which really forward the story. Some make sense in that they show the functionality of the objects in the room (e.g. tapping on a light and it turns on), and others are purely just for fun (e.g., tapping on the suitcase makes it jump up). Several even just repeat throughout the pages, so it's not even anything new. In fact, there are so many hotspots that they often get in the way of turning the pages. I seriously found it quite frustrating to turn the pages - and maybe this was not just because of the hotspots. Perhaps, luckily, we have a parent present to help focus the child back on the story, but I think that all these other hotspots can take away from the co-reading conversation. Rating: 2/5


Sustainability: I at first thought this would be great in terms of sustainability, because you can erase the recordings and add in new words all the time. But then a closer look at the types of blank words left me thinking that it's really not all that flexible. Some of the blanks require pretty specific answers, and different answers don't really change the story all that much. I feel the story itself was written to help provide prompts for conversation, so as a story on it's own, it may not become a favorite, unless maybe you're a family that travels a lot and has lots of travel stories. Rating: 3.5/5


Parental Involvement: What I like most about this app is its approach to getting parents involved. Recording the words is a fun way to incorporate technology and also serve as prompts for conversation. Rating: 5/5


Total: 14.5 out of 20 - 3 stars


Disclosure - I received this app for free for review purposes.

Sparky the Shark

Sparky the Shark: A Frighteningly Funny Adventure was created by Biscuit Interactive. It's an original story about being yourself. Price: $3.99


Device Requirements: Compatible with iPad.Requires iOS 3.2 or later

Developmental Appropriateness: The story is very cute and the illustrations are attractive. It uses many story telling devices that are appropriate and engaging to young kids such as humor, a bit of repetition in terms of rhythm of the story, and character development. Given the social pressures kids face in school and the recent attention to issues like bullying, this story is timely. I do wish that someone at the end apologized for being so scared and judging based on appearance so that kids can hear about not just accepting themselves, but not to judge others as well.


As for the "e-book" aspects, the story can be read to you or by you and there are some lightly animated hotspots on each page. The text does not highlight and appears at the very bottom of each page - I guess so you focus on the pictures. I don't know if it was my device (used it on an older iPhone) or what, but I found it to be highly glitchy which affected my overall experience. But it doesn't seem like I'm the only one - I saw some other reviews that cited glitchy usage. First, the narration does not work very well. It got very choppy. Next, I kept being taken back to the previous page even though I was tapping no where near the back arrow icon. Finally, just overall, it seemed to be very freezy. I actually had to watch the demo video to make sure I didn't miss anything. While most of these issues can be fixed, I do suggest adding in some features to highlight the text as well as illustrations. 


** The developers will be releasing an updated version where the device requirements will be with later versions of iOS. The update will resolve the glitches I mentioned. The current version should work fine with later versions of iOS.


Finally, there is a game that you can access outside of the book reading that allows you to dress up Sharky and then take a picture of your creation. This is a great, appropriate addition that is actually relevant tot he story. Rating: 3.5/5 (aim for around 6 years)


Balance: While I applaud the developers for not going crazy with irrelevant hotspots, and keeping them pretty simple, it seems like many of these hotspots should just be automatic light animation to the page rather than "hidden hotspots."  Many of them are just simple motions like Sharky nodding his head or the boat gently rocking that don't seem to be very exciting as hotspots. Also, many of them just repeat through the pages. If you're gonna use hotspots, make them count. Also, why do so many developers make them "hidden?" Do hidden hotspots really make it that much more fun than obvious hotspots (I don't know of any actual research on this)? Seems like the fun is in what the hotspots actually do rather than in finding where they are (unless finding them is part of the plot). I would rather kids focus on the story than on trying to find every single hotspot. Rating: 3/5


Sustainability: A good story is worth reading again. I am no literary expert, but I like this story. And the disguise game is fun - it would be cool be able to use what is created in the game in the story, just as an added incentive to go back tot he story. Rating: 5/5


Parental Involvement: This seems like a story parents would enjoy reading with their child. The message is clear, but still gives room for parents to elaborate on the meaning. Parents should be present to help  keep their child focused on the text/story through the hidden hotspots and possible glitches. Rating 4/5


Total: 15.5 out of 20: 4 stars