Publications about books for children and young adults
Barefoot Books collaborated with developer Touch Press on a digital companion to their Barefoot Books World Atlas written by Nick Crane and illustrated by David Dean (November 2011). The atlas’s introduction explains that unlike most atlases, it’s organized by region rather than continent, partly to emphasize how “people in different parts of the world have [...]
It’s Byron Barton’s Planes (March) and Boats (April) in app format from Oceanhouse Media and HarperCollins. Matching the books’ engaging simplicity and directness, both apps enhance the print versions without distracting users with over-the-top interactive elements. The text is read by an enthusiastic narrator, whether the sound is on or off. If you choose to [...]
If you were like me, you applauded Press Here, the ingenious book by Hervé Tullet, for its anti-app bravado. If the news that there is now an app version (Chronicle, April) of the book disgusts you, please don’t be too quick to judge. The first thing to realize is that Press Here was translated from [...]
Big Nate: Comix by U! (based on the books by Lincoln Peirce; HarperCollins and Night & Day Studios, December) is a kind of Colorforms set for new media starring Nate Wright, a sixth-grade antihero who makes Greg Heffley look like a wimpy kid. In this app, Nate’s fans and budding playwrights press-and-place a variety of [...]
Benji Davies’s illustrations for the Bizzy Bear board books (Nosy Crow) are like catnip for young children. I defy any toddler or preschooler worth her salt to walk by a Bizzy Bear book and not pick it up. The wide-eyed, cheerful animals on the construction site (Let’s Get to Work!) or traveling to the beach [...]
Developer Nosy Crow just won a Publishing Innovation Award for their app-only fairy tale retelling Cinderella: A 3-D Fairy Tale (September). Like their Three Little Pigs, this digital interpretation has plenty of charm. The app’s “read to me” and “read and play” options are refreshingly narrated by a cast of British child actors, with dialogue [...]
If you’ve read any of Mo Willems’s books (or his Sutherland lecture “Why Books”), it will come as no surprise that his app Don’t Let the Pigeon Run This App! (Disney, October) is kid-centric and slyly subversive. The friendly bus driver from Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! introduces a Mad Lib–like story starring [...]
As a Seuss fan, I had high hopes for The Bippolo Seed and Other Lost Stories app (Oceanhouse Media, September). This adaptation of seven rediscovered stories (originally published by Redbook Magazine in the 1950s) ended up being a mixed bag. Here’s what I like about it: Reader control. The main menu features a separate listing [...]
If you’re looking for a great holiday app download to keep kids or adults occupied and happy this holiday season, look no further. The now-classic animated holiday TV special (1965) A Charlie Brown Christmas is available in a new format. Loud Crow Interactive has released a delightful iPad app of the story of Charlie Brown’s [...]
Oceanhouse Media’s Once upon a Potty app is true to the original. The focus is on the text and illustrations; digital enhancements are used sparingly and effectively. There are some polite potty sound effects and humor, and though I’m sure the urge was strong (get it?!) to make more of a splash (it’s too easy!), the producers wisely kept the intended audience in mind. The narrative’s reassuring tone, nonthreatening pictures, and unobtrusive music help distractible toddlers focus on the important information.
Newbery, Printz & Caldecott