Top Rated Children’s Books for Your iPad

Tablets and smartphones make an excellent platform for children’s books. They are more durable and offer the benefits of interaction, audio, and video. These make the stories come to life in front of the children’s eyes and let them interact directly with their favorite story. Another benefit of children’s books on tablets is that they can choose the option for the story to be read to them. This article will give you a rundown of the top rated children’s books for your iPad.

Toy Story Showtime

This follow up to the Toy Story 1, 2, and 3 eBooks is chalk full of games, interaction, and educational content. Rather than plopping a movie script into eBook format, they took care to add all the little extras and take advantage of the benefits of the eBook format. The features of this book include narration, three games, word definitions, interactive features, and there is even an option to record your own voice and play it as the narration to the story.

The games are fun and educational. They include a “Simon” type repetition game, an interactive game where you chain dance moves together for Buzz, and a fill in the blank spelling game. The story itself features read along highlighting and great interactive touch elements that are made obvious to the reader.

All these features coupled with a new Toy Story storyline make this a must buy.

Alice for the iPad

The classic tale of Alice in Wonderland has been brought to the iPad in grand form. This version features tilt and shake interaction. The artwork and details are top notch and really make the story come to life. The tilt and shake effects are fun and provide lasting appeal to this already great story.

Dr. Seuss books

Dr. Seuss books and the iPad are a perfect match. Many educational enhancements are added to these timeless stories. This eBook features narration, read along highlighting, and interactive elements. Tap any object or picture and it will speak the name of the object, show the word, and highlight wherever the word appears in the text. While it may not have the flash and games of other titles, the stories and artwork combined with these learning enhancements make these a great addition to your digital collection. The following Dr. Seuss titles are currently available on iTunes:

The Cat in the Hat

Fox in Sox

1 Fish, 2 Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish

Mr. Brown Can Moo, Can You?

The Foot Book

Oh the Thinks You Can Think!

If I Ran the Zoo

Puss In Boots Movie Storybook

This eBook follows the story of the DreamWorks movie, and features lightly interactive images from the movie. Fans of the movie will be delighted by forty plus pages of content with extra audio and interactive content. It covers the entire story from the movie. This title features narration but lacks read along highlighting. This is a great title for fans of the Shrek series.

The Berenstain Bears Trim the Tree

Fans of the Berenstain Bears will love this interactive holiday story. Great artwork and extra interactions make this a great eBook for kids. The book features narration, read along highlighting, sound effects, and features hear and see definitions when images are tapped. Old and new fans of the series will appreciate this title.

Another Monster at the End of This Book…Starring Grover & Elmo!

This great eBook features the voices of two popular Sesame Characters speaking directly to the reader. The plot involves Elmo trying to get to the end of the story to find the monster at the end o f the book, but Grover is more apprehensive. Grover puts up barriers that the reader must remove before the story can move on. These great interactions and voice narration make this an excellent choice for children or adults who are fans of Sesame Street. This book features a page guide, easy navigation, and audio prompts if the barriers are not removed right away. Unfortunately, the narration cannot be turned off on this book. This is a top level eBook for any kid.

Harold and the Purple Crayon

This eBook is a great example of how to translate a classic into the digital format while still staying true to the appeal of the original. This story from 1955 is brought to live on the iPad. The book features the standard read alone and read to me modes in addition to the Touch Tale mode. The standard modes feature light touch interactions and great background music along with read along highlighting. The Touch Tale mode is where the format really shines. This mode has you drawing along with Harold to move the story forward. There are little extras like a breeze blowing through your illustrations and stars appearing around the moon. This title also features touch to hear and see images descriptions.

By: Zach Ball is an online publisher and children’s book enthusiast for Childrensbookstore.com and writes articles on the topics of reading and parenting.