Today’s review is by Iona Burchell, who is a wife and mum of two. In her spare time she is a freelance writer, and has written for online and print media in a range of subjects varying from education to sport to travel. You can find her blog at www.redpeffer.me or feel free to tweet @Redpeffer. Today Iona will share two book apps that are FREE right now. Let’s find out what they are.
Around the World and Dark Night are both picture book apps published by Harper Collins Ltd. They are part of a range of apps produced by this publisher that are currently free to download and come under the Big Cat banner.
Around the World is all about travelling the globe by airplane and visiting different places and cultures, whilst Dark Night is about a hedgehog who is looking for a bed and travels round to visit various animals homes before finding the perfect home for him. Two very different stories, but both visually appealing and of a high quality.
Both feature the same interactivity options, such as touching the screen to move objects, the chance to record your own voice reading the story (which I think is a nice touch) and also the chance to create your own story based on the animations and backgrounds selected from the
story. All in all they are nice comprehensive apps that promote literacy, hand eye co-ordination and creativity. I would say they will appeal to 2-5 year olds predominantly. My young son enjoyed reading along with me and touching the screen to make the animations move, whilst my older daughter got really involved in the story creation aspect.
What I like about these apps is that the publishers have included reading tips for parents to help get the most out of using them. This is something I think adds a lot of value to any reading app. The animations and drawings are really good quality and there’s an innovative use of the interactivity options. These feel primarily like books for reading that be cleverly adapted to make the most out of app technology and I really like this. I think it gives them a high quality feel and the learning potential is clear from the first use.
My only little niggle is that it’s not always clear where you have to touch the screen to make things move and this was frustrating for my 2 year old (and for me, trying to guide him!). But it’s a small thing really and I would recommend these apps regardless of their price but as they’re currently free, I would say ‘snap them up!’
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.
Cold Dark Night 
Around the World
In fact, there are several book apps are FREE right now from Harper Collins. I have them all below. Grab them before the price goes up.
