Do you like Curious George? We do! Today a new Curious George book app comes out: Curious George and the Firefighters. It is a story book app, but it is more than just a story. There are many features in the app that will help little ones improve reading comprehension, learn more words, and be a better reader. Since it is just launched today, it is on promotion price.
The story is a fun one. George goes to the Fire Station with a school field trip. Of course, being George, he will bring many surprises to us. 
I like the app not just for the interesting story. The app is designed using Dialogic Reading. It has many features encouraging kids commenting, making predictions, and answering questions about the story. Studies have shown kids perform better in acquiring vocabulary and story comprehension with dialogic reading.
There are 3 sections in the app: Listen, Read and Talk, and Theatre. Each section has unique features to help kids learn the language.
Listen:
The story is read by a professional narrator. I love the Living Words in the app. On each page, there is at least one word that is color highlighted. When kids tap on the word, they will see the word and the corresponding part of the picture both come to live with funny animations. These animations are short, just a couple seconds long, but are great to trigger kids’ interest in learning those words. If kids are up to it, parents can go into the Setting section to have kids record the Living Words in their own voice. When they tap on the word, they will hear themselves read the words aloud. What a fun way to encourage kids to learn! You can go into the Setting section by tapping the little gear icon on the top left corner of the screen.
Read and Talk:
This is for parents and kid read together. There is no narration. However, on each page, there will be a question come up for kids to answer. If kids stuck, they can press the hint to find out the answer. These are well thought questions encouraging kids active engagement in the story. For example, on one page, the question is “George is an animal, do you see another animal on this page?”
Theatre:
Kids can create their own story with the scenes and characters from the book. They can select the scenes, add characters, and create a story. They can move the characters around on the screen, recording their own sounding effects or talking. When it is done, they can watch their own story play out. This is a fun way for parents to find out how much kids comprehend the story, and interact with kids by creating a story together.
Under the Setting section, there are some very helpful reading tips. Parents can find some great tips for reading with kids. Make sure to visit the Reading Tips under Setting.
Another bonus of the app, you can read the book in 3 languages: English, French and Spanish.
Curious George and the Firefighters is available for iPhone, iPod and iPad. It is on promotion price right now at $1.99.
Curious George and Firefighters is part of the series iReadWith. If you like book apps with features encourage language development, check out other iReadWith apps: iReadWith – eBooks for Better Reading Comprehension. 
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.
