Harold and the Purple Crayon for the iPad is a magical experience based on the storybook by Crockett Johnson. Trilogy Touch managed to strike a perfect balance while updating this classic for a new generation of children– the book is filled with animation and interactive elements, yet remains perfectly faithful to the original work. This lovely app is a Best Kid favorite that belongs on the digital bookshelf of every iPad-owning parent.
Sesame Street’s The Monster at the End of This Book is the best children’s book in the App Store. Full stop. It doesn’t matter whether your kids are two or six years old, this will be their favorite. And it will be your favorite. It is a masterpiece. The Monster at the End of This Book shows that children’s books are not just possible on the iPad—they can be far better than a paper-based book could ever hope to be.
If you’ve read Winnie the Pooh, What’s a Bear to Do (or my review of it), you know what to expect from Mickey’s Spooky Night. I would be surprised to find that this book wasn’t made by the same team responsible for Winnie the Pooh. It’s a short, high-quality ebook for young toddlers, with simple interactive games that will keep your kids coming back.
Disney’s take on the classic The Princess and the Frog is entirely unfaithful to the source material. It’s also really cute and compelling. The iPhone/iPad ebook unsurprisingly follows the basic plot of the film, cutting and summarizing heavily to fit the whole thing into a ten-minute children’s book. Early versions of the book suffered from serious stability issues, but that seems to finally be fixed with the newest update. For the most part The Princess and the Frog is pretty successful, with excellent artwork and narration, and a few extra features that are cool for parents and kids alike.
This ebook is a stinker. Almost everything about it, from the artwork and interactive features to the narrator’s voice to the utterly moronic story will grate on your nerves. Still, much to my dismay, my four-year-old daughter chooses it frequently at story time, subjecting me to it in the process. I seriously hate this book and suggest that you avoid buying it unless your children are only allowed to use it when you are nowhere even within earshot of your iPad.
This is a short, but well-made ebook that’s fun for both you and your kids. Although the story and interactive elements are short and simple, this actually works in the book’s favor and makes it a great recommendation for young toddlers. And the wonderful artwork and excellent narration show that the book is short and simple as a design choice, rather than to cut corners.
This is a book that needs no introduction. Unless you were raised under a rock, or perhaps in a box or with a fox, you have probably been exposed to this book countless times. If you have kids, you have likely already exposed them to it. If not, Oceanhouse Media’s iPad version is an excellent way to do so (it borders on child cruelty to deprive your children of Green Eggs and Ham, so if you haven’t introduced it already, get on it!).
So Ouat! is one of my favorite producers of children’s ebooks on the App Store. None of their books are original (so far), but the treatment they give to classic fairy tales is consistently among the best the App Store has to offer. True to form, Goldilocks is a high-quality treatment of the fairy tale we all know and love. So Ouat! also offers some really cool educational features for parents who might want to turn these books into more substantial educational tools.
This is a simple, lovely book that your little girls (or very young boys) will love. The story is short and very sweet, and the narration is superb. This is one of my daughter’s favorites, and I’m always pleased to read it with her.
This is a short, cute book especially for infants and toddlers. But by the time preschool is looming, your kids will probably have outgrown it.
