Articles Posted in Kids’ Book Apps

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Okay, my kids and I have probably looked 25 times for new Bartleby 2 app now. We are going a little nuts. But I really think they are getting close. Here is blog post and video showing off what we can expect from the new Bartleby Book of Buttons.

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Bartleby 2 is on its way, according to Monster Costume’s Twitter post last week. Literally, my kids have me look on the iPad every day to see if the new Bartleby 2 is out yet.

You can read about my love for all things Bartleby here.

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redridinghoodIdeal Binary last iPad book, Rapunzel, was a book I complained about because the plot is beyond awful. But the 3D pop-up special effects made the book a keeper. We just sucked up the fact that good guy in the story sold off her first born child for some flowers after he got caught stealing them – in spite of his efforts at deception -off someone else’s property.

So when Ideal Binary came out with Little Red Riding Hood, I ignored the $3.99 price tag and bought it immediately and trotted in out for my youngest son last night. As advertised, great 3D interactive fun – just what an iPad should be.

Well, grandma ends up cutting up the wolf and making a carpet. Really? This is a kids’ book. It is no longer 1968. We are still stupid but we are not that stupid. Why can’t the story have a theme of love and reconciliation? Why blindly follow this idiotic plot?

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This is my top 5 best iPad books for kids between 3-9 years old:

  1. Bartleby’s Book of Buttons
  2. Cosmo’s Day Off
  3. Morris Lessmore
  4. Cloud Bread
  5. Violet (the first two books of the series)

Bartleby’s Book of Buttons, Cosmo’s Day Off and Morris Lessmore you can take to the bank. These are the best children’s iPad books I have seen.

Cloud Bread is a little different – it is the English adaptation of a hit Korean kids’ book – but I think it is great. Cloud Bread has a fun story and great graphics.

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Let’s start with the good: Ideal Binary has put together a beautiful iPad version of Rapunzel: it is downright brilliant and your children are going to love it, read good sophisticated children’s vocabulary. I can’t underscore this point enough: the quality of this iPad book is just fantastic.

That said… I hate the book. Rapunzel is just an awful story on every imaginable level. People were so dumb when they made up these stories. No one cared what impact it would have on children. The values of this book are awful. Sure, Dad, go steal from the witch, it is all good. The ends justifies the means. And that is not even the worst of it.

The quality of the interactivity in the Rapunzel iPad book is so fantastic I still read it – occasionally, including last night which precipitated this review – but I wince though most of it. The authors took some liberties with Rapunzel as Disney just did (I have not seen it). So why not go all the way in and make it a story that parents can actually read and explain to their kids?

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cosmoI love Cosmo’s Day Off. It is my second favorite iPad children’s book of all-time. More on that in a second.

Cosmo’s Day Off is a children’s iPad book with just a ton of bells and whistles. I remember getting excited that every page in the Toy Story book had a fun button you could push on every page. Cosmo’s Day Off has some pages with maybe ten different things kids can touch that gives a cool response.

Cosmo’s Day Off is produced by Ayers Animation which also did Jack and the Beanstalk, a decent book but nothing special – a largely old school, nothing new rendition of a story that has a lot of moral flaws (why exactly does Jack feel at liberty to steal?). Cosmo is in an entirely different league.

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