App Review: Who is the Ugliest of All?

WHO IS THE UGLIEST OF ALL? is an engaging, interactive e-book app by Joshua and Donna Wilson.

This clever story follows a girl as she prepares to go out for the evening. Her fashion choices seem strange until readers discover she’s getting ready for a Halloween party. This short, interactive picture book incorporates interesting interactions, appealing illustrations, and entrancing rhymes.

Readers move forward or backward through the story by touching the right or left side of the screen. Users can explore each story page by touching various areas of the screen. Touching the words will read the page aloud.

Librarians will find this storybook app to be an exciting addition to the growing number of holiday-themed interactive books.

To purchase the app, go to https://itunes.apple.com/…/who-is-the-ugliest-…/id930248798….

Published by The Happy Dandelion. Advanced copy courtesy of the publisher.

App Review: Shout Science!

SHOUT SCIENCE! by Scott Dubois is an amazing comic storybook app exploring scientists and scientific discovery.

Designed for ages 7 through 11, the app contains three narrative biographies featuring Anton Van Leeuwenhoek, Maria Sibylla Merian, and James Hutton. Set during the Scientific Revolution in Europe, readers learn about both science and history connected with the scientist. Students scroll down a timeline or explore a map, then make a selection. For each person, the student can read the story or access additional information about the person including background information, an image and timeline.

Rather than reading across pages, users scroll down a series of screens to read the story. To enhance engagement and reading comprehension, the app incorporates animation, diagrams, sound, and interactive elements.

Use this engaging comic storybook app to jumpstart a biography project. Connect the app with the graphic biographies in your library collection.

Go to Shout Science to learn more about the author and the app at http://www.shoutscience.com/.

To download the app, go to https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/shout-science!/id672884678….

App Review: The UnStealer

THE UNSTEALER by Joshua and Donna Wilson is cute picture e-book app for children.

In this adorable app for ages 6-8, the UnStealer takes “un”s. For instance, he turns unhappy situations into happy ones and changes an unfriendly, untrained dog into a friendly, trained dog. The app is only 18 pages long, but it’s effective in conveying a series of short stories.

Interactive elements are triggered by touching, dragging, and tilting the screen. Users touch the first word of the paragraph for audio narration. Touching colored words activates animation. Users return to the menu by touching the bottom of the screen.

The artwork is colorful and the font style is perfect for young readers.

The story is a great way to introduce the idea of descriptive words and discuss how removing just a couple letters turns a negative situation into a positive one.

Librarians and language arts teachers will enjoy the positive message and learning connections. Add this to your picture book apps for language arts.

To download the app, go to https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/the-unstealer/id791804571…

Published by The Happy Dandelion. Learn more at http://www.thehappydandelion.com/.

App Review: Storm & Skye

STORM & SKYE AND THE SECRET OF THE CAR WASH from Digimoo Studios is the first episode in a beautifully illustrated, animated, and audio narrated storybook app.

In this exciting and engaging fantasy adventure, Storm’s imagination goes wild during a drive through the car wash. Later, he joins forces with his young friend Skye to explore the magical world of knights and dragons inside this mysterious car wash.

Designed for children ages five and over, the animated storybook app provides an engaging visual and auditory experience. However because no text is provided, it’s not designed as a text-based reading experience.

The charming narration is accompanied by pleasant music making it perfect for the young children. Each chapter is around 5 minutes for a total of about 45 minutes of entertainment. Users can read straight through the storybook app or jump to one of the nine chapters. In addition to the animated story, a few interactive animations are built into the story allowing young readers to play with story elements. A “help button” reviews the options for users.

Librarians seeking an amazing visual and auditory experience for preschool and primary grade students will want to add this app to their app collection. The short, focused chapters would work well for listening comprehension activities.

Readers will be begging for the next episode in this high-quality animated storybook series.

To learn more, go to the Digimoo Studios website at http://www.digimoostudios.com/.

App Review: The Wired Bunch Series

THE WIRED BUNCH from nine22media is a rip-roaring western e-book series infused with interactive technology. Blending the best of old westerns and classic cartoons with engaging robots and fun animation, this series will be a hit with kids.

Six issues of this popular interactive e-book series have been published so far and six more are under development. The first issue is free, while other issues need to be purchased. The app opens to a bookshelf showing the issues currently available.

Set in an alternative Old West setting, each story revolves around robot cowboys. In the first exciting episode, Marshal Ram and his deputies are introduced to readers. These Old West bots must protect their town from O.L. Tycoon and his evil robots. Children can read the story, listen to the story read aloud, or a combination. At any point, readers can go to a particular page, set a bookmark, or edit the story.

The old-time piano music along with the engaging animation immediately immerse children in the world of the wired bunch! Each e-page is visually stunning with crisp bright colors. Basic animation adds to the experience without distracting from the story. The bright yellow font is presented in a size that is easy to read. The audio narration fits perfectly with the western theme. Throughout the story, readers are encouraged to participate by exploring the screen or answering a reflective question. These interactions relate directly to the story so they enhance the reading experience.

Like the Saturday Morning cartoons of the past, some of the technology references and sophisticated humor may be “over the heads” of some children. However, parents, teachers, and librarians will enjoy every play on words making the books a wonderful joint reading experience.

This interactive e-book series would be a wonderful way to engage reluctant readers both inside and outside the classroom. Children will read these engaging stories over and over again.