I imagine

I imagine by bizzibrains is a free interactive picturebook for preschoolers. Before reading the story, you have to build the characters. You get to choose hair, clothes and a face for a parent, a child, and the child's toy. And then you can save up to three sets of characters. The best part for us was using the iPad's camera to create the characters' faces. Autumn and I made silly faces, switched bodies so that she was the adult and I was the kid, and generally enjoyed ourselves with this. You also get to name the characters both in print and in the voiceover, so of course everyone ended up with names from Frozen or The Swan Princess.

Once you have designed the characters, they get inserted into an e-book. The story is simple: a parent is trying to work--and the term "work" is employed loosely here, as the parent figure is sometimes seen doing laundry, and sometimes sitting at a computer--but whatever the parent is doing, the child wants attention. The caretaker (in our case, Odette, with Autumn's face) tries various ways of occupying the child (Kristof, with my face)... a train set, a sandbox, arts and crafts... Finally, she sends the child to her room, where the kid stops whining, exercises her imagination, and begins to have fun with her toy doll.

I have minor quibbles with the app--for example, there doesn't seem to be any way to turn back a page--but overall, Autumn loves it. There is interaction on every page that is germane to the storyline. The text tracking matches the narration. And the story is cohesive, if slim.

Brooklyn looked over our shoulder briefly as we were playing, but she didn't get a chance to try the app out yet. I don't think it will hold a six-year-old's attention quite as long as it did the three-year-old's. She will enjoy making the characters too, but the story won't hold up for repeated tellings. But that is okay--this is a great app for younger kids. Critics like the educational columnist Annie Murphy Paul have criticized e-books for stunting children's imagination and not being easy to share (see her rant in the School Library Journal), but Autumn and I found this app an excellent vehicle for sharing and stimulating conversation. While we did talk about mechanics quite a bit like how to make the app work, we also discussed richer things, like what to draw on the arts and crafts page; when and where Autumn has made sand castles on the sandbox page; and what Autumn would play with her dolls if she was alone and amusing herself in her room.

In all, Autumn and I spent about half an hour with the app last night. She was engaged and talkative the entire time. Which is more than I can say for her behavior when we are reading some of her print books together. I firmly believe that e-books are not necessarily terrible for younger readers; the trick is to match the right book to the reader and to actively share the book together. I imagine makes that easy to do.

Even Monsters Are Shy

Even Monsters Are Shy by Busy Bee Studios is the second book in the series, with Even Monsters Get Sick. Both books feature young boys and their big loveable monster friends. The plot of Even Monsters Are Shy is that Ben gets circus tickets and a monster named Gurk for his birthday, but to Ben's surprise, Gurk is no fun at all. He runs or hides from everyone they meet, including Zub, the monster from Even Monsters Get Sick, in a cameo appearance (which Brooklyn found hysterical).

Ben suspects that Gurk might be sick, but it turns out that Gurk is shy. Ben rushes to help Gurk overcome his shyness in time for the circus. He gives the monster explicit lessons in making friends.

When the lessons don't work, Ben reluctantly gives his circus tickets away. Gurk feels so terrible at having made Ben miss the circus, that he screws up his courage to make not just one new friend, but LOTS of new monster friends and put on his own monster circus just for Ben.

There are games and interactive elements throughout Even Monsters Are Shy. Most of the hotspots are small, quick little interruptions that are germane to the plot and generally add to a beginning reader's comprehension without stopping the flow of the story for too long. For example, on the page above, where Ben begins Gurk's lessons, he tells him that Step 1 is to smile. The child can then use a finger to drag the watermelon slices into Gurk's mouth and the orange slices into Ben's mouth to give them big silly grins. Unfortunately, there is also a penguin hidden in the freezer and the blender whirs and spins when taps. These things have nothing to do with the shyness lessons, and do interrupt the flow of the story. From a literacy standpoint, beginning readers learn nothing from hotspots like turning on the blender; whereas making Gurk smile is the lesson of the page.

Other pages are more game-like, such as the two pictured above, from Gurk's monster circus. On the top page, the reader controls the marshmallow cannon to try to shoot them at the moving targets, or into the monster's mouth. On the bottom, Gurk is riding a unicycle on the high-wire while the reader piles monsters on either end of his balance stick. While these games are probably not best practices in terms of learning to read, Brooklyn really enjoyed them. And the storyline is simple enough that she had no trouble keeping things straight... In point of fact, she set me straight on a plot point: at one point Ben and Gurk are playing happily in the backyard until, Ben says, his sister came out. The second time we read the book together, I commented to Brooklyn that that wasn't very nice--why doesn't Ben just invite his sister to play with them? Brooklyn astutely pointed out to me that the problem wasn't that Ben didn't want her to play, it was that Gurk was too shy to play with her. Ah ha. There is nothing like having a 5-year-old explain picture books to you to make you feel simultaneously proud and small.

In sum, the message in the book is that there is no reason to be shy--everyone can learn to make friends. That is a valuable lesson for all to learn. And the book is entertaining as well as engaging. This series feels like ebooks made for a brand new medium, rather than print books that were re-engineered for the iPad. To me, the difference is that they are much more natural... the story flows and the games/hotspots/sound effects fit in without being immensely distracting. Brooklyn and I read Even Monsters Are Shy twice together, and she must have read it on her own this week as well, since I found the app open when I came back to the iPad later. Three times in one week can only mean she likes it.

Love

I had to get this ebook for Brooklyn, based on the title alone. Brooklyn routinely names her Barbie dolls things like "Heart Love." And then when Digital Storytime gave Love such a rave review, my curiosity was piqued. The publishers, Nino Studios, were nice enough to give us a free review copy for this blog. So the girls and I eagerly sat down to read Love together. And it was like no other ebook we had ever read.

Love, the book, is by an Italian author, Gian Berto Vanni. It was first published in the US in 1964.  Love, the app, maintains the original's look and style. The texture of the screen will fool you into thinking you might actually get paper cuts swiping to advance the story. Every page is full of peepholes and collage elements. The book itself is gorgeous; the best part though, is that the app developers have gone out of their way to do justice to this beautiful story book. Instead of a traditional ebook, they have created something less linear. It is not always obvious where to swipe, or where the words will next appear. Pages don't so much as turn, as fall away, or peel back piece by piece. There is stop motion animation and ambient music throughout. Here is a one-minute video trailer that gives the feel of the music and animation:

The story is dark and twisty. It feels, frankly, like it was written in another time/place (e.g., Europe in the 1960s?). The basic story is this: A little girl who is described as "not so pretty" loses her parents at age nine. She goes to live in an orphanage where she is unloved. She acts out and gets in trouble. In the end, however, she communes with nature and finds a way to connect with the people around her. The story is sparse and somewhat shocking to modern sensibilities; especially since a happy ending is not spelled out for our protagonist. As sensitive as she sometimes is though, Brooklyn took it in stride. We both were somewhat surprised that the book ended when it did. One of the problems with innovative interactive storybook apps like this one is that the reader has no sense of length. Had we been reading the print book, we would have known we were on the last page.

There is no "read-to-me" narration available with this ebook, but that is okay. This is a book better suited to older readers. Brooklyn and I enjoyed it together. Although Autumn initially sat down with us, she quickly wandered away. Read it with your children, or give it to children old enough to read it themselves. One thing I wish the app did have was a way to navigate through to a certain part a little bit more quickly... It is maddening to try to re-read a particular page in the middle of the book without a page guide to let you jump in to the middle. But that minor quibble aside, this is a beautiful, well-constructed and thought provoking ebook that I expect my kids to grow into.

The Monsters Inc. Storybook Deluxe

My preschooler was home sick today, so I decided to finally bite the bullet and buy the Monsters, Inc.Storybook Deluxe by Disney. And I have to grudgingly admit that it's not a terrible ebook. Understand that this is faint praise. I bought the app because the poor girl was on the couch, moaning and groaning, and I expected this to be a half-hour distraction (and that it happily was!) But I've written elsewhere about how dubious I was that an app with this iTunes description could actually be much of a literacy experience:

Description

***Unlock content for the Monsters University Storybook Deluxe app!
***Relive the incredible story of the highly acclaimed film classic Disney•Pixar Monsters, Inc.
***Find hidden Scare cards throughout the story!
***Fun Game: Navigate your way through a Monsters, Incorporated scare simulator training room to collect scream energy!
***Surprisingly fun personalized features, based on your own screaming and roaring abilities!

FEATURES:
•Retelling of the film Disney•Pixar Monsters, Inc. with read-along text and full narration!
•Hear quotes from the actual film as you tap on your favorite characters!
•Look for clues to find and collect Scare cards that include pictures of your favorite monster Scarers, along with their scaring stats!
•Includes short animated clips from the original film!

I'm no Luddite (could a Luddite keep this blog?), but my head implodes at the thought of a future in which children chose which "book" to read based on the movie clips included and/or how loudly they're encouraged to scream at the screen. That said, Brooklyn cared about none of this. She can't yet read, so she wasn’t seduced by the marketing materials on iTunes. She was interested in purchasing the app because she likes the movie—we both do. The writing in the original movie is clever, and the characters are really fun. I only hoped that some of their personality would come through in this “storybook deluxe.”

The first thing that happens when you open the app is an introduction that explains Monstropolis is a city powered by human screams; “monsters everywhere depend on you!” You’re encouraged to scream in order to unlock the fun and games. At this, Brooklyn screamed half-heartedly (but let’s allow that this might be more fun for a kid without a fever; I kind of wanted to scream myself). Once unlocked, the choices are to READ or PLAY. The READ option is the ebook. And this is where Brooklyn spent quite a while listening to the story attentively, with the text-highlighting on. Once the story had finished, she went back to the home screen and tried the PLAY option, which was a game in which you tilt the iPad back and forth to maneuver Sully through a child’s bedroom without touching any of the child’s things (because, you know, contamination) and then roar as loudly as possible at the child simulator. This only proved mildly fun, mostly because the technology doesn’t quite work as well as we wanted it too; neither one of us was able to avoid the obstacles with much finesse. Later in the evening, when my two-year-old got home, Brooklyn was eager to share the app with her sister, but it was the storybook, not the games, she wanted to show her.

So I said up top that this isn’t a terrible ebook. But that doesn’t mean that it’s quality children’s literature either. What’s the difference, you ask? Well, it’s not always easy to identify either one. But here is what I look for in a quality print book… strong writing, interesting language, subject matter that draws the child in, and developmentally appropriate themes.  Strong writing means the traits that we teach: things like an identifiable voice (think Olivia), sentence fluency so that it trips off the tongue when you read it out loud (Dr. Seuss), and well-developed ideas (the Harry Potter series). Interesting language means using just the right word at just the right time. The best children’s books introduce interesting words effortlessly, so that the children are not endlessly asking, “What does that mean, again?” It doesn’t mean always using a fancy synonym… But what would Where the Wild Things Are be without the “wild rumpus”? And, of course, even if the writing and language is strong, the book has to speak the children: it has to be about something they care about.

In this case, the monsters (as they were created for the screen) are funny and loveable characters who are engaged in an elemental fear of all children: scaring them in the dark. What could be better? Lots, it turns out. This ebook is a straight synopsis of the movie. The writers try to encapsulate everything from the 95 min movie into a 35-page book. It barely makes sense even if you've seen the movie; it is nowhere near as funny or as clever as the movie. Worst of all, the characters have none of the personality, and Brooklyn could barely keep the plot straight (on one of the first pages the Child Detection Agency is introduced and the acronym CDA first used; later they are referred to only as the CDA and Brooklyn asked me “What’s that mean, again?”) In general, a good rule of thumb when looking for quality children’s literature is to stay away from movie tie-ins. There are exceptions, of course… Shrek, for example, began as an excellent book, before it was an excellent movie. But this is a disappointment in terms of literature. In terms of entertainment, well, Brooklyn looked happy enough.

Part of what might have entertained her are the positive digital features to this ebook. In my opinion, what Disney did really well in developing this interactive storybook is in the development of the ebook itself. The term “ebook” can really mean anything these days, from a PDF of the printed book, to essentially a cartoon. Minimally, I think an interactive storybook that I download from iTunes has to have illustrations on a screen with an oral reading of the text and some hotspots to click on here and there. Animations, zooming in and out, musical scores, sound effects, text highlighting, built-in dictionaries, hotspots where the reader clicks to interact with a character or object, foreign language translations, voice recognition, tilting and shaking of the physical machine, built-in games and the option to record my own voice can all be nice additions. Or they can be distractions, depending on the design of the app and the reader.  Good ebooks need to manage all of these digital features in a fashion that is workable for developing readers. That is, the kids need to be able to focus on the text, first and foremost. And the digital features need to support the story.

The Monsters Inc. Storybook Deluxe actually does this really well. The text is off-set from the illustrations and highlighted word-by-word as it is read, so that the child is looking solely at the text for as long as it is read, and then can swipe to see the full illustration. Once the text has been read, flashing symbols indicate where the hotspots are that uncover new parts of the illustration, supporting the child’s comprehension. Although Brooklyn enjoyed the professional narration, including some of the actors from the movie, another nice extra that is available is that there is an option to record your own voice reading the text. Older children might benefit from the fluency practice of recording themselves and listening to their own playback. With such a long storybook, I also personally enjoyed the dropdown menu at the top that allowed us to choose any page to jump to at any time. And best of all was the separation of the READ and PLAY features. There was no need to scream or roar at anyone while reading the ebook.

While I wish the book itself was better (and at $6.99 I can’t really recommend the app to anyone), I can say that Disney has some pretty smart app designers on board. I just hope they come up with some more interesting projects in the future.

Interactive Storybook Apps

            My favorite apps for the kids are interactive storybooks. I am a big fan of children’s literature, in general, and so I find it interesting to see how quality literature gets translated to ebook form. And basically I’ve found that you get what you pay for: the free books (for example, from StoryChimes or TabTale) are filled with ads, poor animation, and sometimes even grammatical errors. The quality books, from publishers like Oceanhouse Media, Calloway Digital Arts, and Nosy Crow, tend to cost five or six dollars each.

            Even amongst the “good” ebooks, there is a huge range in quality in terms of story, animation, narration, interaction with the characters, musical effects, and educational qualities (like text highlighting or built-in dictionaries). Most interesting to us are the apps that make good use of the medium and allow the kids to interact, instead of just translating the printed book to a computer screen and adding narration. Here are a few that appeal to my kids:

For the smallest of the smalls:

Elmo’s Big Birthday Bash! From Random House Children’s Books
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/elmos-big-birthday-bash!-sesame/id510754841?mt=8 

            Elmo’s Big Birthday Bash! is a story about Elmo planning and then enjoying his birthday party. My two-year-old adores the combination of Elmo, birthdays, and the iPad. The app is narrated by a familiar voice—Bob, from Sesame Street. Bob tells the app user when and where to swipe, so no reading is needed to begin the story.  That means that not only does this app combine all of her favorite things, my toddler can even use it relatively independently. It’s toddler heaven!

            Of course, I use the word “story” loosely here. The narrative is not much. Elmo’s mom suggests they have a birthday party, Elmo draws and delivers invitations, Elmo’s friends open the invitations, everyone brainstorms presents for Elmo, etc. The whole familiar cast of characters is here, and there are a few hotspots on each page (a party hat that pops up; a book you can open and close; characters who giggle). Happily for the toddler attention span, the story is broken into three parts, with a game-like activity in between each section of the book. In the first game, the app user is asked to help Elmo mail his party invitations by matching the first letter of the person’s name to the letter on the mailbox, and then dragging the invitation into that box. Although my two-year-old has trouble with the letter ID, and routinely asks her older sister or me for help, I was pleasantly surprised to see both how interested she was in this activity and how persistent in learning the click and drag motion. The other two games are similar, requiring the matching of letter sounds or rhyming.

            In addition to the pre-reading skills practiced in the games, the app has other features I appreciate from an educator’s point of view. For example, the text appears in large, clear print at the bottom of every screen. Each word is highlighted as Bob reads. If the app user clicks on an individual word from the text after the narration has finished, it pops up on a separate line and is re-read.

            In conclusion, while this app is a bit of a bore for adults, it is fascinating to the younger set. It is also well-designed and incorporates letter and sound practice.

For older children:

Bats! Furry Fliers of the Night by Mary Kay Carson From Story Worldwide
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/bats!-furry-fliers-night/id494297887?mt=8
 

            The designers of this app call it a “bapp” (a book-app). In their FAQ, they say they felt the need to create something new–rather than a book that hardly used the tablet technology at all, or films/animations that seem more like playing a game or watching TV. The idea behind their bapp is to make reading deeper and richer by making you feel as though you are in the forest. They do this through 3D software, built in sound effects, and utilizing the iPad’s built in gyroscope to let you tilt the machine back and forth to get a bat’s-eye-view while flying overhead. The overall effect is very cool.

            My five-year-old suddenly cannot get enough non-fiction, particularly about animals. And I have to confess, I love when she conversationally drops five dollar words like “venomous” and “nocturnal.” So this app is one of my favorites. There are seven chapters, with a hyper-linked table of contents, on all things bat: habitat, echolocation, types of bats, threats to the species, etc. Each chapter includes beautiful close-up photography, as well as diagrams and text. Instead of traditional “hotspots,” the interaction is woven into the app, in the form of a wheel the app user spins to get information on each new kind of bat, or swiping up to follow the bats into the sky, tapping to zoom in, etc. Navigation of the app is surprisingly intuitive and there are arrows to guide. One quibble I have is that the arrows appear before the narration finishes, making it all too easy to accidentally move on before hearing the complete text. Of course, it’s easy enough to start the chapter over, if you miss something. Speaking of which, although they are non-traditional (no page numbers, for example), my pre-reader couldn’t help but learn about non-fiction text features from the highlighting of the excellent table of contents, diagrams, and text boxes.

            Finally, one thing that surprised me about this app is the price—it’s only $2.99. I would have paid much more for it.