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Showing posts with label enhanced storytelling. Show all posts
Showing posts with label enhanced storytelling. Show all posts

Monday, 21 January 2013

#readitmummiesanddaddies2013 - E stands for 'Enhanced' not just 'Electronic' when it comes to E-Books

Posted by ReadItDaddy at January 21, 2013 Labels: , , , , , , , ,
Maggot Moon by Sally Gardner - an e-book 'done properly'
There seems to be a war raging between the luddites and the technocrati and it's a war that seems as odd as any other war. Two sides are gathered, with a fair amount of neutrals in the middle, claiming that their favourite method of enjoying stories is better than the other and will somehow 'win'.

As we know, in a war there are no winners and what this has to do with the #readitmummiesanddaddies2013 campaign is this. Quite simply, there's more than enough room on your shelves and in your tablet / kindle / e-reader for both Print books and E-books.

This week on ReadItDaddy we're going to be focusing on some of the best e-books around and some of the publishers who fully understand the statement topping this article - that 'E' doesn't just stand for 'Electronic' it stands for 'Enhanced'.

We've used Sally Gardner's utterly amazing and mind-bendingly brilliant book "Maggot Moon" as our first example of an e-book that brings more to the table than just the ability to flick through its pages on a tablet or e-reader. Working in conjunction with Sally herself, Hot Key Books have produced something that, at first glance, seems just like an ordinary everyday e-book. Flip your iPad on its side though, read the book in Landscape Mode and things start to happen...

The Maggot Moon introduction in 'Enhanced' mode. Hello Standish!
We start to see Maggot Moon how Sally herself sees the book. You see, Sally is Dyslexic and working with Hot Key Books has developed several rather clever methods to show readers how the book and how text appears to her. 

There are some truly fascinating insights and interviews with Sally, as well as a whole host of supporting materials that pop in and out of the story - from amazing pieces of art to support the story itself to subversive video clips that show us how powerful the internet can be at generating memes and hype. 

Great little box-outs and video clips enhance the written text at various points in the story


With E-Books, we usually hear the plaintive cries of folk claiming that they are too expensive, and that surely the cost of digital distribution and the lack of cost involved in bringing a book to print means that e-books should be cheaper. But when you consider how much effort is put into something like Maggot Moon, and how close in price it is to the paperback version, those arguments seem a bit odd and out of place. 

There's also the argument that enhanced books aren't great for children, distracting them too much from the story and the narrative. I'd agree in some respects with this but again this seems to be an argument squarely aimed at books that pad out their content with games and other distractions, rather than enhancements to the story (as with Maggot Moon). They can actually help children listen to a story if parents aren't confident readers, and can also give additional information and leap-off points for children to go and investigate once the 'book' is closed. 

You'll hear more about the Maggot Moon Multi-Touch Enhanced Edition in our review later this week, but in the meantime here's a list of children's books that have also wowed us and shown us how 'enhanced' editions really can help a child engage with books in new and very exciting ways. If you have any other suggestions, please do drop them in the comments section below.


A handful of E-Books worth grabbing











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Wednesday, 16 January 2013

#readitmummiesanddaddies2013 - The Awesomeness of Audio Books

Posted by ReadItDaddy at January 16, 2013 Labels: , , , , , , ,

Amongst other things in this week's ongoing #readitmummiesanddaddies2013 campaign we're looking at the various ways and methods that can help parents who aren't confident with or don't like reading aloud to their children. We've looked at storytelling apps and we've also talked about text-free picture books, but it's also worth covering audio books or children's picture books that come complete with audio CDs. 

It goes without saying that local libraries offer a brilliant audio book service in most branches and our local library has some great popular children's picture books along with their audio accompaniments. (It's worth pointing out though that some libraries make a small charge for these loans so it's worth checking that out first before borrowing.)

Audio Books have the advantage of being well read, often with music and sound effects, and quite often at a nicely sedate pace so that the book and the audio can be enjoyed together again and again. 

Charlotte has quite a few picture books with audio accompaniments and a few of her favourites are: 

  • The Pirates Next Door by Jonny Duddle (from Templar Books)
  • Pants by Giles Andreae and Nick Sharratt (with a sing-a-long CD performed by Lenny Henry)
  • Mog's Christmas by Judith Kerr (read by Geraldine McEwan)
  • The 'Flip Up Fairy Tale' range from Child's Play (popular children's fairy tales with beautifully read story CDs)
  • The Snowman by Raymond Briggs (wonderfully read by the legend that is Bernard Cribbins!)
  • Stories for a Prince by various authors (produced for Charity and Prince William back in the 80s)
  • The Froobles story and audio range from Top That! Publishing
The beauty of these is that you can load them into the car on a long journey and enjoy story time on the move (I think I've lost count of the amount of times we had to hear "The Snowman" over and over again just before Christmas). 

One thing we've noticed with audio-enhanced picture books is that they give a child a different way of having someone else interpret the story. In the case of 'The Pirates Next Door' Jonny Duddle is naturally funny and entertaining (unlike Daddy when he reads it!) so it grabs Charlotte's attention more, and also means that quite often she can just enjoy the pictures while listening to someone else doing all the hard work - perfect when our busy and hectic homelife takes over and we still want to leave her listening to something great. 

If you're more technically minded and fancy enjoying stories without the necessity for the print-book, Audible have an excellent range of digital downloads at reasonable prices, often read by famous people - through their online service. 

Various sites also offer free audiobook downloads of classic children's titles. Some of these are fantastic, some are a bit 'dry' but free is free so give them a try, load them onto your iPod or MP3 player and enjoy brilliant stories this way.

Heard a great audio story? Got a great recommendation? Please leave a comment below and we'll include it in our 'recommended by' list!




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