Monthly Archives: December 2013

Classic Books to Chew On

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Children’s publishers have found a market for board-book versions of “Moby-Dick,” “Sense and Sensibility” and other literary novels.  Check out more in this NY Times article.

Tablettoddlers main takeaway:

“While the publishing industry is still scraping through the digital revolution, children’s books have remained relatively untouched. Most parents are sticking to print for their young children even when there are e-book versions or apps available, and videos like the once ubiquitous “Baby Einstein,” founded in 1997 as a fast-track to infant genius, have fallen out of fashion.”

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Netflix Premieres Its First Animated Series for Kids This Week

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DreamWorks Animation’s “Turbo FAST,” debuted on Dec. 24 and is the first-ever Netflix original series for children. Families can stream the first five episodes now, with additional new episodes premiering throughout the year.

So far, Tablettoddlers kids’ opinion on the show is…”meh.”  Granted, we’ve yet to see the movie, “Turbo.”  Hopefully the show will get better.

Sesame Street Books Now Available in iBooks Store

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Sesame Workshop, the publisher of the Sesame Street books series, has been pushing its digital offerings in recent months and the latest news is that their titles are now available for sale in Apple’s iBooks Store. Last October, Sesame Street released eBooks through iTunes and in February 2013 the company released their eBooks through Amazon’s App Store.

The iBooks collection includes more than 60 Sesame Street books which are available to iBooks users in 51 countries. Titles range in cost from $1.99 to $5.99 and include: The Monster at the End of This Book (Tablettoddlers’ favorite book growing up), Elmo Loves You and How to Be a Grouch.

Crowded Fiction Employs Video Game Tactics to Help Kids Learn

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From the original Appnewser post:

Dyslexic video game maker Joe Booth has designed a new iPad app for reading called Crowded Fiction aimed at getting kids nine years old and older excited about reading using storytelling ideas from video games. The app brings fiction to life by making it interactive, tactile, and social. \

Booth, who published the game through his company Vidya Gamer, approached the design with the fundamental mission of making eBooks more like video games.

The first story to launch on the app is called Jackson’s Choice. The story involves young readers by asking them to participate in the story. They virtually throw punches in a fight scene and steer through an explosive car chase. The app is available as a free download, and it comes with the first chapter of the story. From there, readers have to purchase the rest of the eBook.