iPhone4idiots

Oceanhouse Media lowered the price of its six Dr. Seuss storybooks to $0.99 this week to celebrate what would have been the author and illustrator’s 106th birthday. I have to say “Bravo!” These are the best storybooks I have found on the iPhone! Much longer, with more pages and touchable pictures too. While not an authority on the subject, I’ve read more children’s storybooks on the iPhone than most people. I found Little Red Riding Hood and The Boy Who Cried Wolf to be enjoyable for both my kids and daddy. However, after having read both The Cat in the Hat and Dr. Suess ABC, Oceanhouse Media blows these others away. Like all children’s storybooks for the iPhone you have the option of reading the books or having them read to you. These Dr. Suess storybooks are significantly longer. Both have over 25 pages and many of the pages have multiple paragraphs. One effect used that I haven’t seen elsewhere is a “zoom-in”. On many pages when you first turn it the focus is on a certain section of the page. For example, in the picture just below on the right, the book might focus on the bottom right section when you first turn.  Thus, you only see the owl at first. However, when you swipe to turn to the next page it zooms out revealing more text and the rest of the picture. This combined with the many pages makes these some of the longest children’s storybooks I’ve come across for your iPhone or iTouch.  I spent over 25 minutes with the 5 year old having ABC read to us. The illustrations are excellent of course as you can see in the pictures in this post. What’s also great is that images in the pictures can be tapped and the word will be said. See the picture of the cat above to the left. I had just tapped the ball and red fan and the words are spoken and appear briefly on the screen. This is great for the kids. I had to hold my iPhone out of the reach of my 5 and 3 year olds to goto the next page as they wouldn’t stop tapping the first time we read Cat in the Hat. In Dr. Suess ABC most of the taped worlds are followed by a sound effect as well. So far I’ve had both books read to my and my kids twice. Generally, I’m the one swiping to get to the next page and move the process along as they are enjoying tapping the pictures. So if you are a fan of iPhone or iTouch storybooks for your children, go grab some of these Dr. Suess apps while the sale lasts!