E-books task

1:Living books

Although this is a very old example, I feel it is relative to the discussion at hand and I can vouch for it as it helped me learn what I was a child. Living book is a company that creates interactive children’s book in the form of a game and story. The group was founded in 1992 and is associated with the random house company and have worked to created 18 timeless books from Dr.Seuss to Author. The age range for all these stories are fairly young from about 2-6 years old, the older children will enjoy the fun interactive well the younger will simply enjoy the story and visuals.

I have read many of these books as a child so I have firsthand experience on how they work. On first load up, you can choose if the story is interactive or not. On selecting interactive, a scene will play and the page of the first story will be read, after which children can go to the next page by clicking the arrow icon but before then they can click of different things on the page/screen and interact with it (for example, clicking an owl might make it hoot and clicking the pound might make a fish jump out.)

They can also click on the words at the bottom of the page and they will be spoken out, this helps children read at their own pace and to hear the sound of the words as well as see them on the page. On Authors teacher trouble, one page is all about Authors spelling test, and the page shows a bunch of words on the page, clicking the word will not own make the word be sounded out but will also show a visual. This is an excellent way to learn for children and will help them remember the sounds and visuals a lot easier.

Although the books are all very old, these are a fantastic way of learning and I cannot think of any way they could be improved. Even if people argue the visuals could overpower the story, the story can be played without the visuals. The only downside I can think of is that the books are dated, so no touch screen elements are available making the books feel more like a game then a story.

 

2: Animated story book - lion king                                                             

Around the time of living book, Disney had their own similar company working on interactive books called “Disney interactive” that still works today to create console games hosted by Disney. The first book in their series was the lion king and the last was Mulan. The books came out around the same time as the films and because of the close tie in and popularity of Disney were highly successful and also appealed to a wide range of audiences, though there target would have been similar to living books of 2-6.

The books also ran in a similar fashion, telling the story on each page and then allowing the reader/player to interact with the elements on the page afterwards such as clicking on a character or background item and watching it move/speak or clicking on a word and hearing it be sounded out. The fact that the book are Disney helps to engage children even more as they learn to identify with the characters and if they have seen the movies, they know what should be happening in the scene which will help them understand the words.

Like the living books stories, you can choose to have the interaction turned off or on, having it off well simply go though the story with the only visuals being the ones before or during the story being read. This can help children focus more on the story. There are slightly more elements to these books then the living books stories, there are extra side games you can click on for each page and also an option similar to a dictionary that helps children understand the words. There isn’t much to penalise with the Disney books other then similar to living books they are quite old and so no touch screen elements are available.

 

3:Meet the insects encyclopaedia series

After looking at two older companies/series I decided to look at and compare them to a more modern series of e-books called “Meet the insects encyclopaedia series”. This is a series of Apps all about insects and is highly educational and involving. The app includes, touch screen elements such as changing pages and zooming in, photos and videos of the insects and stories and games featuring illustrated versions of the insects.

There are three apps in the series, all tackling different insects. The book is very educational and really does in depth about each insect, you can learn about their history/origin including how they move and what they eat and learn about each individual part of their body.

Due to the subject matter and the more advanced language used, the age range for these books would properly be late first school/middle school area of about 6-10, but even then adults and older children could still learn a lot about these factual apps/books.

The story elements in the app/books are not too long but six are included in each app/book and the visuals are interesting and subtle enough to keep children’s interest. The visuals in all the elements of the app are fantastic for learning, instead of one picture, children can see the whole of the insect in a range of different ways which really helps children to understand the facts they have read/digested. Due to the heavy and serious subject matter, children will properly not engage with the factual aspects unless motivated however the illustrate stories should provide enough stimulation for children of even a younger age.