Tech Tuesday: PicPocket Books Review & Giveaway

My husband and I recently purchased iPhones and they fascinate Teagan. We were surprised to find her mastering the unlock feature! It is important to embrace innovative technology but we believe in moderation, especially for our child. It seems that everyone is drawn to any kind of media featuring a screen. PicPocket Books contacted us about their downloadable iPhone/iPod Touch picture book apps for children. After browsing their selections we downloaded a few titles. Our thatsITmommy east coast friends Erika and Adeline also downloaded a couple of titles and gave us their opinion on PicPocket Books.

Lynette Mattke founded PicPocket Books. She’s a stay-at-home mom turned “Mompreneur.” Her background is in English Literature and is passionate about children’s literature and early literacy.

PicPocket Books allow kids to enjoy great stories while they’re on the go.  Nothing will ever replace the physical interaction of reading a real book but PicPocket Books has produced their titles through an artistic process and their apps remain faithful in content to the original books. Most of the titles come from previously published books rather than made-for-iPhone stories – so the artwork is already drawn. The apps are geared towards kid aged 2-8. ThatsITmommy finds them to be cool, compact and captivating. It also makes it easier to carry many titles when it’s not convenient to carry the real thing.

The PicPocket Books we downloaded came in handy during our recent car ride back from Las Vegas. We love to read to Teagan and always try to have her follow the words by pointing at them as we read.  Not easy when you’re driving the car! That is why we appreciate the “learn-to-read” feature of PicPocket Books where the text is highlighted as the word is spoken. It’s an important way to connect the written and spoken word to all new readers. Teagan has even memorized the words to “I Can Do It Too”! Another title we chose was “Isabelle”. Teagan likes the “flipping” page action and I like the positive storyline.

The pictures were clear and vibrant and the narrator’s voice was crisp and clear. A great feature is that the sound can be turned off (as well as the highlighted type). You can read to your child if you want to take a break from the narration. It is important to stress that theses apps are not video games. PicPocket Books are another tool that’s a cool alternative to encourage and maintain strong reading habits.  – Tee

Erika and Adeline

Adeline is very big on playing with my iPod Touch or her dad’s iPhone so I was very excited to learn about PicPocket Books and to try one out. We chose the Dinosaur title, which is recommended for kids age 2-6. Adeline loves looking at pictures of Dinosaurs and these images showed up nice and bright on the screen. I also like the audio, which was very clear and easy for her to understand. Once Adeline is a little older she will be able to follow along with the highlighted words on the screen. These books are a great way to entertain your child in a store, in the car, sitting in a waiting room or on an airplane. It is so much easier than carrying around books. There are a lot of titles to choose from and it seems that they keep adding more titles.

GIVEAWAY – PicPocket Books is offering one lucky thatsITmommy
reader 5 downloadable PicPocket Book Titles of their choice.

Requirements: iPhone/iPod Touch

Giveaway Ends Midnight PST March 5, 2010

MANDATORY MAIN ENTRY – Visit www.picpocketbooks.com and tell us what titles you’d choose.

Come back here and leave a comment in the reply box below this post.

(Remember if this MAIN ENTRY RULE is not followed then no other entries will count)

EXTRA ENTRIES – You can earn more entries – Please leave each extra entry in a SEPARATE comment.

• Follow us on Twitter and let us know.
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• Subscribe to our RSS feed or by email (or let us know if you already subscribe) Subscriptions must be verified to count.
• Follow PicPocketBooks on their twitter page
• Tweet this giveaway. Copy and paste – Win 5 picture books apps for iPhone/iPod Touch from @PicpocketBooks via @thatsitmommy http://bit.ly/brmUBy
  Tweet once a day! and let us know you did
  
• Have a Blog? Blog about this giveaway and leave the link to your post in a separate comment below.

This giveaway will run through midnight on March 5, 2010 (PST) with winner being announced March 6, 2010 (PST). Winner will be chosen using Random.org from all valid entries and notified via email. Winner will have 48 hours to contact us before another winner is chosen. Giveaway is open to U.S. residents only.

* We did not receive monetary compensation for this review.
*We did receive apps for review purposes.
This will in no way sway our opinion of the service.
The review is in our own words and is our opinion. Your results and opinion may differ.