A journey through your imagination, take a trip down "Hurricane Lane"

For tech-savvy kids who love a good story, April 4th sees the launch of the app version of Michelle Vinall's "Hurricane Lane" (which we reviewed as part of our Indie Pen-Dance Wednesday coverage a week or two ago). Published by Story Panda, "Hurricane Lane" is an enhanced version of Michelle's gorgeously illustrated tale, the first in an intended trilogy of stories (which also include the wonderful "256 Postcards Ago").

You can find the app on the iTunes store here, priced at a very reasonable 69p. BARGAIN!

While you're there, you can also check out the Story Panda app, and also the E-Book version of Hurricane Lane.

Collect the set and delve into Michelle Vinall's colourful and imaginative world.

"Trampoline" and "Insides" from Book 2. Do not get these two confused

All round good egg and top tweeter, maker of mirth and rib-ticking rhymer extraordinaire Colin West popped up in our Twitter timeline to tell us that his "Big Book of Nonsense" series is now free on iTunes for your iPad.

Here are the links to all three "Big Book Of Nonsense" e-versions (UK Versions)

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

The above screenshot gives you a tiny idea of how great these are. If you fancy a full review of Part 1, here's what we wrote about it.

The Phoenix Comic App (on iTunes)

We're coming at you thick and fast today with our reviews in a bid to catch up after a few days off sick. The divine @thestrollingmum found this rather neat little e-book while browsing the iTunes App Store and it's the sort of thing you'd absolutely love to see more aquariums, zoos and other places begin to do more of.

Seattle Aquarium has put together a lovely little story about a Sea Otter called Edwin, but it's not merely a heart-warming tale of an otter worrying he's not as impressive as the other Seattle Aquarium animals and aquatics, it's a great little demonstration of how stories can serve as a jumping-off point for exploring our natural world and learning valuable facts about the creatures that live in it.

The developer of this app / e-book, Nat Duffy, has obviously taken the very best hooks from picture books and spliced them together with great little video clips from the aquarium itself (with lots of cute animal clips to keep youngsters happy). Excellent illustrations and a fairly engaging story help to underpin the Seattle Aquarium's committment to work in conservation and animal care so it's far more than just a 'glossy' way of advertising a day out.

Best of all, it's a free download (and is also available as a static PDF if you want to explore the pages on a desktop computer) but doesn't feel like it's lacking in quality, like a lot of free apps seem to.

Charlotte's best bit: Animals going to sleep. Awww.

Daddy's favourite bit: A brilliant mix of video, sounds and a great story compliment each other perfectly.

Edwin the Super Duper Otter (on iTunes)

Our very good friends at Anorak Magazine are so excited this morning that they have broken their '1' keys on their keyboards by typing in so many exclamation marks! Quite rightly too, as they have just launched Happy TV - a great new fun download from the iTunes App Store featuring giggles, gags and lots of great ideas for children and adults alike. In the style of classic children's TV before merchandising took over, Happy TV is brilliant fun and very attractively priced.

You can grab the first great episode from iTunes via this link: Happy TV from Anorak on iTunes

We've included a preview below. Like everything Anorak do, this is excellent stuff so grab yours today!

Let's kick off this week's app reviews with a look at something fun, that's designed to improve your child's dexterity rather than tax their brain with phonics and number puzzles. Toca Kitchen Monsters is ridiculous fun. Set in a messy kitchen that is visited by hungry monsters, with a well stocked fridge and lots of kitchen gadgetry to cook up a storm with.

The main appeal of the Toca apps is the superb production values. Silky-smooth animation on the monster characters is complimented by all sorts of crazy and funny sound effects (kids just seem to automatically self-destruct with laughter whenever they hear a fart noise but TKM is thankfully a little more subtle than that, most of the time!)

Ingredients are fetched from the fridge and either fed raw to the monsters, or processed in a variety of amusing ways. Fried broccoli? Well why not! Liquidized steak? Heck yes!

The reactions from the monsters when you feed them something yummy (or yucky) is quite amusing. In fact it's eerily like the reaction you get when you dish up a curry to your youngster after realising that one of your key ingredients (curry powder) wasn't on the weekly shop. Oops! Sorry Charlotte!

Charlotte's best bit: The liquidizer. Everything goes in it!

Daddy's favourite bit: The superb production values on this, and the fact that you get quite a good laugh from the free version without needing to pay for the full app.

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars - App of the Week

iTunes Link: Toca Kitchen Monsters (Free)

In the second of an occasional look at kid-friendly games and apps, ReadItDaddy was fortunate enough to be sent a promo of Tati's Hotel - Magic Muddle. This kid-friendly app once again assumes that you, as a trusting parent, don't mind your youngster pawing your favourite smartphone (or iPad) to play a distracting game while mummy or daddy juggle the housework, drive the car or push the shopping trolley around. 

I'll admit that we've never heard of Tati's Hotel, a CITV show. Apparently I've heard that it's sort of like a child-friendly version of Fawlty Towers (the mind boggles!) and this app shows off some of the whacky characters from the programme. 

Essentially it's an extremely simple puzzle game that lets toddlers press away at the screen in order to rearrange a muddled up picture of a character, restoring it to normal. It's as simple as that. Tap a block or swipe it to move it around the screen, and once you've completed the picture your best times on each puzzle are recorded. 

Unlike most kid apps, this one doesn't kick you firmly in the wallet at 69p. Alas though there's so little to it, and even if your children love the show and the characters they might very swiftly get bored doing the same thing over and over again (and 'best times' are lost on most toddlers so there isn't even the competitive hook of getting a great score). 


Rating: 2 out of 5

Tati's Hotel - Magic Muddle on iTunes (Universal, 69p)