June 2nd, 2014

My latest iPad app book finds - enjoy!:

Mirror World - Cornelia Funke's fantastical world explored in stories, video and with interactive elements. Beautiful app but be aware it does take up a fair bit of space. The app was developed in full collaboration with the author and that shows in the quality of the content. 

Captain Underpants - the ever popular Dav Pilkey character now has his own app produced by Scholastic. The app retains the effervescent sense of fun that is apparent in the books, the actual story progresses in an organic way with no page turns just a smooth continuation and the added games (you can create your own music using various sounds including passing wind!) help to make this a must have for boys. 

The Guardian of Imagination - Stories, pictures and games that can only be unlocked one by one by finding the key to the next box in a stack by reading tales. Can be read in English, Spanish, Catalan & Italian. First story tells of a world where no colours exist because people have stopped imagining and is very lyrically told.

Steampunk Holmes: Legacy of the Nautilus - This story uses the character of the beloved detective and has a contemporary steampunk edge, with audio and animations and quite exquisite illustrations. You can either read it yourself or explore along with quality audio narration.

Wild About Books - A pop up picture book app, Wild About Books tells the story of a mobile librarian who finds herself in a zoo and encourages all the animals to read by lending them wonderful books. I love the references to other children's books within the text and the jolly rhyming text. 

Mr Tickle - I just love the Mr Men! the fact that the story is narrated by none other than David Walliams is the icing on the cake for this app, it's full of colour and is very joyful, as it should be! 

(I will be showing all of these apps and more at the course on encouraging reluctant readers I am running with author Andy Robb at Peters Booksellers on the 3/7 ....hope to see you there!)

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