Around The World Takes Your Child On A Personalized Adventure, Plus Win A Copy
Around The World - Personalized Children's Book ($2.99) by My Digital Photo Story is the first in a series of children’s books that lets your child be the star of the story by giving you the option of adding their picture and voice to the book.
The first thing you will do when you open the app is pick a boy or girl. You can then add your child’s face to the story by taping the appropriate kid. It will open your iPhone or iPad’s photo library and you can choose any photo you’d like from there. The photo editing tool allows you to crop out everything around the face so that it will fit nicely into the app. You can also add your child’s voice by touching and holding the face. In the story, you will hear the recording when you touch the child on the page.
The story itself is an adventure starring your child and his or her kite. One night, the kite decides to take your child on an adventure around the world. They will visit Egypt, India, China and many other countries. Each place has a friendly citizen who will say “hello” in their own language. Every page offers fun extras to explore; leaves that blow across the sky or butterflies taking flight when you touch them.
You can use the read-along feature, or you can choose to read it yourself. You can also turn the sound and animation on or off.
There are a couple of user interface issues that need work. For example, if you touch the lower part of the screen, the settings bar pops up. It can be distracting to see that when you just wanted to touch an elephant. Also, you can’t jump pages, so if you wanted to start over when you are in the middle of the book, you have to hit the back button over and over again until you reach the first page.
Overall, this is a clever way to engage your child and offers a personalized experience. The narration is pleasant and the added animation adds to the exploration and adventure. On sale for only $0.99, this is well worth the money. At the full price of $2.99 it is still a great book for young children. Check out Counting Zoo and A Trip In The USA as well in the App Store now.
Giveaway: If you would like to win a free copy of this book, please leave a comment below. Contest Ends Sunday, June 26 at 11:59 p.m. CDT.
