This week we take a look at a couple of apps spun off of popular children’s books, as well as ones for grown-ups on how to draw and what foods pair with what beverages.
Title: The Berenstain Bears Do Their Best
Publisher/Developer: Oceanhouse Media
Available: January 13, 2011
Price: $2.99
Background: A rhyming tale that tells the story of Papa Bear helping Brother and Sister Bear make a kite, based on the book by Stan and Jan Berenstain with Mike Berenstain, which Zonderkidz published last year.
Interactive features: Individual words are highlighted as the story is read and words zoom up when pictures are touched.
Title: Little Critter's The New Baby
Publisher/Developer: Oceanhouse Media
Available: January 13, 2011
Price: $1.99
Background: Mercer Mayer's series are perennial favorites. In this story, published by Random House Books for Young Readers in 2001, Little Critter has to get used to a new baby sister.
Interactive features: Professional narration, background music and audio.
Title: You Can Count on Blue Dog: Blue Dog 123
Publisher/Developer: Louisiana Digital Gaming Initiative/Academy of Interactive Entertainment
Available: January 12, 2011
Price: Free
Background: George Rodrigue is a Cajun artist, author, and creator of the Blue Dog series, which includes Why Is Blue Dog Blue (Stewart, Tabori & Chang) and Are You Blue Dog’s Friend? (Abrams Books for Young Readers).
Interactive features: Each page displays a different piece of Rodrigue’s original art with countable objects. By touching the objects, children can count them in any order, hear pronunciation, and see the number displayed.
Title: Maid Marian Muffins
Publisher/Developer: Jamie and Jessica Vander Salm
Available: December 20, 2010
Price: $2.99 for iPad app; iPhone and iPod touch app coming later this month for an estimated price of $1.99
Background: Maid Marian is on a quest to make the perfect blueberry muffin. The story is based on the real-life adventures of Jessica Vander Salm (sister of Jamie), who runs a bakery in Brooklyn that delivers by bicycle.
Interactive features: There is a child-friendly self-record feature, professional narration, and music.
Title: What to Drink With What You Eat
Publisher/Developer: Hachette/KiwiTech
Available: December 17, 2010
Price: $2.99
Background: What to Drink with What You Eat by Andrew Dornenburg and Karen Page was an Entertainment Weekly and Los Angeles Times bestseller, and won the Georges Duboeuf Wine Book of the Year Award and IACP Award for Cookbook of the Year.
Interactive features: More than 12,500 listings cover 1,500-plus food categories, including 17 cuisines and 100 cheeses. Users can search by any food (ingredient, cuisine, or dish) to find an ideal beverage to drink with it, bookmark favorite pairings, and share them with friends. The app also works in reverse, allowing users to search by beverage (wine, beer, spirit, sake, juice, coffee, tea) to find the perfect food match.
Title: Learn to Draw Digital Sketchbook
Publisher/Developer: MEDL Mobile, Inc./Walter Foster
Available: December 13, 2010
Price: $2.99
Background: Walter Foster has produced art instruction books for more than 88 years. It has a vast catalog of titles on drawing, painting, animation, and more.
Interactive features: Text and voice instruction; four sample lessons (dragon, horse, portrait, flower); drawing tools are adjustable in size, pressure, and hardness; background paper options; freehand drawing mode; capability to save drawings to a user’s iPhoto library and share with friends via e-mail, Facebook and Twitter.
To be included in this weekly listing, please send us the app title, the book or other source for the app (if there is one -- original apps are fine, too), when it was released, price, background of the book (including such info as copies in print, when it was released, awards, and brief plot summary), and the interactive elements of the app. We also need the promo codes, and an image from the app if possible. Send all apps to Jim Milliot, and send news of children’s apps to Diane Roback as well.
