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For the past twelve months I have been on an adventure, discovering Dr. Seuss with my now three-year-old son. Growing up in Britain, I was not exposed to Dr. Seuss in the way that American children are, though I don't think there is anywhere in the world where The Cat in the Hat is not instantly recognizable. Thanks to Oceanhouse media, we have had the chance over the past few weeks to get to know Dr. Seuss digitally through the Dr. Seuss bookshelf for the Ipad.
The first Dr. Seuss apps that were developed by Oceanhouse media were a game based on How the Grinch Stole Christmas! called Grinchmas!, in which you can be a mean Grinch or a merry Grinch by pleasing or pestering all the Whos down in Whoville, and a camera app, the Dr. Seuss Camera Grinch Edition. They then released the first Dr. Seuss book app for How the Grinch Stole Christmas, which was recently updated to include the new "record and share" feature. Titles are being added all the time. McElligot's Pool and Hunches in Bunches are coming up next, and you can see a tentative schedule of titles on their website. If you download the free Dr. Seuss bookshelf you will be able to see what is available as well as browsing from titles you have already downloaded. You can search by type of book, Classic or Learning Library, or you can instead search by your price range or child's age.
Once you are within the app for a given title, it is easy to navigate. I barely made it through the first book we read, Marvin K Mooney Will You Please Go Now, before my three-year-old had a handle on the situation. One of the biggest advantages of this as an early years app is in it's keeping within the framework set up by the stories themselves – that is, simplicity. In fact, back in 2010 GeekDad's Daniel Donohoo had a chance to interview the founder of Oceanhouse Media, Michel Kripalani. The interview gives great insight into the company's desire to stay true to the focus of teaching children how to read through fun and simplicity.
There are three options for each story:- Read It Myself This is the option most like the traditional book. Each page appears on the screen, you or your child can read it, then you simply swipe to turn the page. In this option, when you touch part of the screen a voice tells you the name of the object you have touched: Grinch, Snow, Cave and so forth, depending on the title you are reading.
- Read To Me. In this option you can record your own voice reading each page. The recording has surprising clarity, and a nice degree of flexibility, for example a different member of the family could read each page. We plan on having the English grandparents do a few recordings for us so that Toby can hear their voices more often. Oddly enough, I like this option despite never having been intrigued by the record-your-own storybooks that are so popular in Hallmark these days.
- Auto Play This option lets you just sit back and enjoy the story. The pages are turned for you, and as each word is spoken it is highlighted in a different color so that your child can follow along. Even when the story is in progress, you can tap the screen and it will pop up with the word for the object you touched – without interrupting the story. In this option you will be shown the word, there will be no sound. You can select the app's original narrator or any of the pre-recorded voices from the Read To Me option.
If you don't want to pay the few dollars per book, you can download the Lite version of several stories. The functionality is the same in that you can still record your own voice, be read to, or have your child read aloud, but you only receive a partial book. If it will frustrate neither you nor your child that the ABC book stops at C, then you'll be fine! The Lite version is also a great way to gauge your child's level of interest. I find that Toby enjoys the app, and still enjoys his books at bedtime. This creates a nice option and keeps a good balance between tech and traditional. If you are traveling over the holidays this a great set of apps for in the airport or in the car. It helped my little guy on Thanksgiving this year when he was refusing to nap but feeling a little overwhelmed by everything around him.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zs2maPvlD6I[/youtube]
One of my favorite technical aspects of this app, one that is becoming more generally used by designers, is that if you interrupt the story midway through, you are given the option of resuming or returning to the main menu when you turn it back on. I was also extremely grateful to have the option of using the pre-recorded voices when simply following the story as I just can't get used to someone other than Boris Karloff reading the Grinch. At least if it's a family member it doesn't seem as strange!
I received several titles from this series for the purposes of this review. I also downloaded the free bookshelf and several Lite apps. But then, being the strange creature that I am, I couldn't resist the free birthday camera app and because the humor of our readers is so important to me, here are the results:
