This week we take a look at apps based on a new book about the history of the Earth, the classic children’s book Pat the Bunny, a bestselling cookbook for athletes, and a collection of darkly humorous poems.
Title: Here on Earth
Publisher: Arcade Sunshine Media
Release date: April 14, 2011
Price: $11.99; for iPad
Background: Atlantic Monthly Press published Here On Earth: A Natural History of the Planet by bestselling author Tim Flannery on April 5. The book traces the entire history of the planet and the impact humans have had on it; The Chicago Tribune called it “intellectually exhilarating.”
Features: Along with the full text of the book, the app features more than 60 minutes of original production—author interviews, interactive maps and graphics, slideshows, animations, and social media—by filmmakers, animators, and designers.
Title: Pat the Bunny
Publisher/Developer: Random House Children’s Books/Smashing Ideas
Release date: April 14, 2011
Price: $2.99 until a to-be-determined date, $4.99 thereafter; for iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch
Background: When Dorothy Kunhardt’s touch-and-feel children’s book classic was originally published in 1940, it was groundbreaking in its use of touch-and-feel elements (such as Daddy’s scratchy face) and interactive features (“Now YOU play peek-a-boo with Paul”). The book has sold more than nine million copies.
Features: Children can pop bubbles with bunny, help bunny catch butterflies, tuck bunny into bed, and more. On devices with front-facing cameras, including the iPad 2, a “look in the mirror” feature allows kids to see their reflection. Users can watch illuminated text while hearing the words read aloud, turn off the narration and read at their own pace, or record their own voice to be played back.
Title: Nancy Clark's Recipes for Athletes
Publisher/Developer: Human Kinetics
Release Date: April 7, 2011
Price: $2.99; for iPhone, iPod Touch, or iPad
Background: The app is based on Nancy Clark's Sports Nutrition Guidebook (Human Kinetics, 2008), which has sold more than 500,000 copies.
Features: Each of the 71 recipes includes nutrition information and is searchable by calories, carbohydrate, protein, and fat. Recipes can also be sorted for nutrient timing, including recipes for pre- and post-exercise, and special diets such as vegetarian, vegan, and gluten, and dairy free.
Title: The Grim Granary: Poems for Kids Big and Small
Publisher/Developer: Tusitala Pte. Ltd.
Release date: March 31, 2011
Price: $1.99, for iPhone
Background: This is Tusitala’s fifth book app' it’s a collection of darkly humorous illustrated poems.
Features: There are audio renditions of each poem, recited by the authors and two other voice artists. Readers can bookmark the page where they stopped reading or mark favorite pages.
To be included in this listing, please send us the app title, the book or other source for the app (if there is one -- original apps are fine, too), when it was released, price, background of the book (including such info as copies in print, when it was released, awards, and brief plot summary), and the interactive elements of the app. Send all apps and promo codes to Jim Milliot, and send news of children’s apps to Diane Roback as well.
