I’ve seen and reviewed a fair number of storybook apps in the past, and the market is saturated with books for preschoolers–well-packaged, but not terribly interesting books that are pretty much the same as the print book versions. So when I see one that isn’t just like all the others, that is for school-age kids and has a less-than-predictable storyline, I am happy.
One such storybook is Antletics: Episode One: Archie and the Mysterious Sphere. Recorded by a man with a lovely and expressive English accent, the long, rhyming story takes readers/listeners on the journey of one ant in his quest to learn about a mysterious sphere.
On each page of the storybook, kids can have the story read to them as many times as they wish, and they can interact with one or more parts of the scene. There is even a magic wand which reveals the parts of the scene that have action. Kids can also tap on highlighted words in the text which gives more information, trivia, or a definition for the word. For example, tapping on “four” brings up information about The Fab Four/The Beatles. Tapping on “ajar” gives a definition of the word. Each highlighted word screen allows you to connect via Facebook as well.
When viewing the story on my iPad, there were some graphical issues, causing parts of the screen to jump a bit when the images move around or zoom out, but this motion happens only occasionally in the book so it doesn’t really detract from the story reading or scene interaction experiences.
Antletics: Episode One: Archie and the Mysterious Sphere is only 99 cents in the iTunes store. For kids who love long rhyming stories and scene interaction, this storybook app is a great choice.
Note: I received a copy of the app for review purposes.
