Heidi Part II – iPhone/iPad App Review

Growing up my siblings and I had a set of abridged classic books it included stories like Treasure Island, Robin Hood and Heidi. When my parents sold their house and downsized that was something I knew I wanted to keep for my daughter, and so the collection of classic books came home with me.

Now a days, kids are proficient with mobile devices and they are a great way to keep children occupied when on the road or waiting in lines, as well as at home. But that doesn’t mean they just have to play games or watch movies on the devices. JustKidsApps has developed apps based on the abridged series of Spyri’s classic novel Heidi as e-books.

Divided up into “chapters” per say – Heidi Part II continues the story where the original JustKidsApps Heidi left off when Heidi leaves the Alps and takes a long journey to Frankfurt, to stay with the Sesemann family.

The app can be used two ways; the child can read the story themselves or they can have it read to them. It also gives the option to read/hear it in English or in German.

If the child chooses to read the story themselves, they will be engaged with easy to read bold text, as well as sound effects pertaining to the page at hand. The illustrations are colorful and the instructions to get additional text for the illustration are easy to follow. The page flips with a sound and an animation.

When being read to, a clear male voice (with a bit of an accent) narrates the text word for word so younger children that cannot read or those that are just learning to read can follow along. The narrator progresses through all of the text associated with the picture displayed and the child can then turn the page manually to continue.

Here is a video demo for Heidi Part II:

Much like a traditional picture book, Heidi Part II has 29 pages with about 2 to 3 sentences per page. The way the e-book has been split into 3 parts (Part III will be available in September of 2011), makes it like a beginner’s trilogy for young readers.

I think it’s great that in an age of interactive media, a classic story can still be enjoyed and that children who normally probably wouldn’t pick up this book to read will now have access to it in a new way.

For today and tomorrow only you can purchase the iPhone version for 99¢ and the iPad version for $1.99. During this time Part I will also be available for 99¢ for both versions. Then they will increase in price on July 1, to $1.99 for iPhone and $3.99 for the iPad.

[box type="info"] 3 READERS WILL WIN A COPY OF HEIDI PART II FOR iPHONE[/box]

To enter the giveaway do either or both of the following using Rafflecopter for your entries.