My friend and fellow writer, the fabulous Anna-Maria Crum, announced the release of her new interactive picture book Monster Numbers. It is SOOOO cute! This is an app for the iPad, iPhone, or iPod touch. The program will read the story and count the monster parts—or you can record your own narration for a personal touch.
I’ve purchased a few picture/photo books for the Kindle and been sorely disappointed. The Kindle format is great for text, but isn’t kind to a book’s layout—resulting in picture books where the pictures are divorced from the relevant text and captions and graphs are difficult or impossible to read.
I love Anna-Maria’s book/app, because it takes advantage of the medium to accomplish more than a picture book could. It’s not a game, though—it retains that picture book feel but adds an interactive touch seldom found in an actual hard-copy book.
Plus it’s easier to pack 
.
Another successful book-for-iPad effort I’ve seen recently is Bats! Furry Fliers of the Night, by nonfiction children’s book author Mary Kay Carson. This book/app is written slightly older readers, but it’s so filled with fascinating facts, illustrations, text, and animations that my high school kids confiscated it to read. This book, too, takes advantage of the medium with panoramic screen shots that give you the feeling that you’re flying through the forest. “Callouts” offer sketches, additional facts, and photos.
I’ve never seen a book experience quite like this one…but then again, I’m not an expert in the growing electronic picture book world.
Have you seen any great book apps for the tablets, smart phones, or other devices? Any features that work especially well for the electronic format?
How interesting, and definitely the way forward, things are moving vey fast in the publishing business. Whatever’s next I wonder. Best wishes to the two authors with these books.
Maria recently posted..5 Things This Writer Loves
I know! I really like how these two books use the medium to do *more* than a paper version could do.
Cheryl Reif recently posted..Fun Publishing News
U-Tales is a really great e-book publisher for children alone! There are some amazing books on their site and to add a cherry on top, Emma Dryden is on the editorial panel overseeing things!
sharon from sharon stanley writes recently posted..10 Random Things About Chocolate
How cool! Thanks for pointing it out–looks like a fantastic group.
Cheryl Reif recently posted..Fun Publishing News
Love the bat one! Too bad it’s not for android
Angelica R. Jackson recently posted..Best of the Blog: Query Post 2 (TheExamples)
I know
. I don’t think it works on iPhone, either. I think I remember reading that…I haven’t tried it on my phone since the graphics really need a larger screen.
Cheryl Reif recently posted..Fun Publishing News
We live in the technological world.And proud of them who makes practice and created something for us like this e book.Thanks for your creative thoughts. I need it.
Nolan Adolfo recently posted..El Informe
Glad to be of encouragement
Cheryl Reif recently posted..Fun Publishing News
The bats is amazing. I am wishing it could be used on iphone. Indeed amazing things can be done with technology.
Jenna Grimes recently posted..Kim Kardashian Enjoys Being with Older Man
Very interesting! I’ll have to check them out. Thanks for sharing!