App Review: Charlie and Lola: My Little Town

App Name: Charlie and Lola: My Little Town
Developer: BBC Worldwide
Cost: $2.99
Available on iOS, Amazon, Google Play
Recommended for Preschool - Grade 1

Fans of the Charlie and Lola books by Lauren Child and the TV series will enjoy immersing themselves in their world in 6 interactive games. Each game encourages creativity and open ended play, with no scores or competition. Users will practice math skills like spatial reasoning and problem solving. Games are narrated by Charlie and Lola, allowing kids to play with the book characters and extend the reading experience.

App Review: Byron Barton Collection #1

App Name: Byron Barton Collection #1
Developer: Oceanhouse Media
Cost: $4.99
Available on iOS, Amazon, Windows, Google Play
Recommended for Preschool and Kindergarten

Byron Barton’s books are known for their simple style, introducing vocabulary with bright illustrations. This style is enhanced with the app and new readers who enjoy all things transportation will enjoy these books. The collection includes Planes, Trains, Boats, and Planes. Books are read out load and words zoom up and are spoken when objects are touched on the screen. This introduced new vocabulary and increases print awareness.

App Review: Axel Scheffler’s Flip Flap Collection

App Name: Axel Scheffler’s Flip Flap Collection
Developer: Nosy Crow
Cost: $0.99 per app
Available on iOS
Recommended for Preschool and Up

The app is based on the flip flap series of board books by Alex Scheffler. This interactive way of engaging with the books encourages multiple readings. Each combination of animal tops and bottoms comes with a silly name and a poem about the animal, perfect for caregivers or beginner readers to read aloud.There are six versions of this app, each featuring a different animal category: Dinosaurs, Ocean, Pets, Jungle, Safari, and Farm allowing for nearly endless animal combinations. The playful nature extends the ideas originally presented in print.

App Review: The Monster at the End of This Book

App Name: The Monster at the End of This Book
Developer: Sesame Street
Cost: $4.99
Available on iOS, Android, Kindle
Recommended for Preschool - Grade 2

A kid favorite, The Monster at the End of this Book, comes to life with many interactive elements. Grover reads the story out loud with added humor and users are encouraged to move the story along towards the monster at the end of the book by untying knots, knocking down brick walls, and more!

App Review: Don't Let Pigeon Run This App!

App Name: Don't Let Pigeon Run This App!

Developer: Disney
Cost: $5.99
Available on iOS
Recommended for Kindergarten - Grade 2

This app is based on the popular pigeon series by Mo Willems. It is distinctly different from the books, but provides the opportunity to engage with these print books in a deeper way. Kids can create their own pigeon stories and add their own voices to recordings of it. You can also learn how to draw pigeon.

App Review: Pigeon Presents Mo on the Go

App Name: Pigeon Presents Mo on the Go
Developer: Disney
Cost: $3.99
Available on iOS
Recommended for Kindergarten - Grade 2

This app includes 4 interactive games featuring beloved characters from Mo Willems' books including Elephant, Piggie, and Pigeon. In one game, Pigeon finally gets to drive the bus (at your direction). In others, kids will draw, create monsters, make up dance moves, and take pictures. Kids can personalize their experience using the camera which really allows them to interact with these characters. Kids will practice writing, get up and move, and engage with these books in a new way through this app.

App Review: Boynton Moo Media

App Name: Boynton Moo Media
Developer: Loud Crow Interactive
Cost: $2.99 per book
Available on iOS, Amazon, Google Play, and Nook
Recommended for Toddlers and Up

Five of Boynton’s board books (The Going to Bed Book; Moo, Baa, La La La!; Blue Hat, Green Hat; Barnyard Dance; and But Not the Hippopotamus) have been adapted into book apps. The text remains unchanged, but children will have the opportunity to interact with their favorite characters by singing along in Barnyard Dance, dressing the elephant and moose in Blue Hat, Green Hat, and more. The interactive elements extend the stories and allow children and caregivers to play, sing, and read together.

App Review: Don't Wake Up Tiger

This week we are debuting our new Early Literacy App Collection! This is a collection of apps for young children and beginner readers selected for their high quality content. These apps provide children the opportunity to practice early literacy skills like reading and writing, introduce science and math topics, and involve creative and interactive play. You can use the apps at the library in our Children's Room. Detailed reviews of our selected apps will be available here on this blog under the tag "apps". 

App Name: Don't Wake Up Tiger
Developer: nosy crow
Cost: $0.99
Available on iOS 
Recommended for toddlers and preschoolers

This app is based on the book of the same title by Britta Treckentrup. You can find the original hard copy of the book in SHARE, too! The story is read out loud in the app and includes fun interactive elements like scratching the tiger's nose to keep him asleep, blowing on balloons to help the animals float by, and more. Young readers will enjoy participating in the story as it goes along.

The app also includes a video of "Happy Birthday" sung aloud for the tiger and two games: a matching game and a spot the difference games. The games can be enjoyed alone or with a friend or caregiver. 

App Review: Red in Bed

This week we are debuting our new Early Literacy App Collection! This is a collection of apps for young children and beginner readers selected for their high quality content. These apps provide children the opportunity to practice early literacy skills like reading and writing, introduce science and math topics, and involve creative and interactive play. You can use the apps at the library in our Children's Room. Detailed reviews of our selected apps will be available here on this blog under the tag "apps". 

App Name: Red in Bed
Developer: Pop Pop Pop LLC
Cost: $0.99
Available on iOS and Google Play
Recommended for toddlers and preschoolers

This app is an interactive version of the book, Red in Bed by Josh On. The story follows the colors of the rainbow as they go about their day coloring the world, except today red is not feeling well. The other colors try to help red out, but instead end up mixing everything up! The cute story is accented by musical notes that correspond to each color and reflect the moods of the characters and story action.

Picture spread from the story

The story text can be displayed in 5 different languages (English, Japanese, French, Spanish, and Hungarian). The text is not read aloud, so this app is best shared by a child and caregiver who can read the story to the child.

This story is enhanced through the interactive features developed into the app. Young readers will enjoy sharing this with a caregiver as they practice color recognition and predicting what will happen next.