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Reading Magic – Reading Games for Beginning Readers from Bob Books

Bob Books Reading Magic Apps

I have seen and read about the early reader series Bob Books a lot and am happy to see they are now offering apps for kids. The apps offer interactive reading games for kids based on the content from the book series.

Bob Books is a reading series designed for beginning readers. There are 5 sequential sets in the series, each set has 8-12 books and each book has about 10-25 pages, depending on the level. In addition to the 5 sequential sets, they also offer book sets on specific subjects, such as sight words, rhyming words. While reviewing the apps, I asked Bob Books to have a set of the books to compare to the apps. I am so glad they send me a set together with the apps, so I can share with you my view on how to best use both books and apps. Reading Magic for Early Readers from Bob Books

First of all, the book series is very well designed. It is not a surprise why it became so popular. I like it, at the beginning of the book, showing you the list of words covered in each book. I also like that each book focus on 3 to 4 letters only, i.e. all the words in the whole book are made of the 3 to 4 letters.  Young children learn through repetition. The seemingly repetitive content is in fact the driving factor that kids love Bob Books. Of course, the simple and funny illustrations are also so fun to read, even for adults. It is a set of books that both kids and parents can enjoy.

Now let’s look at the apps. Currently they only have two apps, but I believe more are coming: Reading Magic 1 and Reading Magic 2, corresponding to Bob Books Sets 1 and 2. The apps bring the content of the books to life with fun interactive game like activities.

When kids are on a page in the app, they can tap on the person or objects on the page. That object will zoom in to take the whole page, while kids hear the name of it read aloud. They then have to move the letters to spell out the name correctly to fill in the color for that object. Once all the persons or objects are in color, kids can move on to the next page. So you can think of the apps as spelling or reading games for early readers.

There are 4 levels for the games that you can choose from based on kids level: Level 1, kids just drag each letter to the right spot to match the letter that is already there; Level 2, kids have to put in the letters into the position following left to right order; Level 3, kids have to move the letters into the right position without any hints; Level 4, kids have to pick out the right letter among many letters.

The apps are not replacement of the books, instead they are supplements. The content of the apps are from the corresponding book sets, but are not the same as the books. To fully take advantage of the series, it’s best to have both the books and apps. The books are the base where kids learn the main contents, while the apps offer interactive game like exercises to reinforce the learning from the books, and trigger interest to read more books.

iGameMom Comments:

Bob Books series is a great early reader package for beginning readers and early readers, with well-designed content, charming illustrations, and interactive learning activities. There is no better gift you can give to your child than the love of reading! Bob Books will for sure make your kids ask for more books.

Bob Books Reading Magic Apps are available for iPhone, iPod and iPad. The first app is available for Android on Google Play and Amazon App Store. You can also find it on Nook, Nabi, and Tabeo. I hope the 2nd app will be on devices besides iPhone and iPad pretty soon.  The first link button for App Store is for the first app, and the 2nd App Store link is for 2nd app.

The 2nd row of links are for the 5 book sets in the series. They link to the Kindle books on Amazon. To check out the print version, all you have to do is to scroll down the screen a little when you reach the Kindle link on Amazon, click on Paperback in the Format box.

If you would like to check it out or purchase it, please use the App Store link provided below. The cost is the same to you, but iGameMom gets a small percentage. Thanks for your support! Note: The link works for all countries.
Reading magic 1 Reading magic 2 Reading Magic 1 Reading Magic 1

Bob Books Set 1-5 (Kindle Edition)
Reading magic 1 Reading magic 2 Reading magic 3 Reading magic 4 Reading magic 5

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