Shelf Control: Don't Be A Grinch And Don't Let Charlie Brown Down This Christmas

"Tomorrow is Christmas! It's practically here!" So says the Grinch in "How the Grinch Stole Christmas." Indeed it is. That's why for this week's edition of Shelf Control, I'll be highlighting a couple of Christmas-themed iOS book apps of note. One of them is the official iOS version of the aforementioned classic book by Dr. Seuss. The other is the official iOS version of the classic animated TV special "A Charlie Brown Christmas." Both are specially made for children, to be sure, but they can be as appealing to the old and tall as they are to the young and small. All the best children's books are. How the Grinch Stole Christmas for iOS is developed by Oceanhouse Media, which also publishes a slew of other Dr. Seuss titles. It tells the story of, well, how the Grinch stole Christmas in an interactive manner, without ever taking away from the Seuss-tacular whimsy of its source material. It features professional narration, background audio, and enlarged artwork (enhanced with the Ken Burns effect to boot) for each scene. And for the benefit of young readers, individual words are highlighted as the story is read. What's more, matching words zoom up when certain portions of the artwork are touched. If you've read the original book, watched the TV cartoon adaptation, viewed the live-action film starring Jim Carrey, or saw the seasonal stage musical, then you already know the story of How the Grinch Stole Christmas. If you haven't, then you're in for a nice treat. The story, in a nutshell, goes like this: "The Grinch hates Who-ville's holiday celebrations, and plans to steal all the presents to prevent Christmas from coming. But the Grinch soon discovers the true meaning of the holiday, changing his heart forever." The true meaning of the holiday is also at the heart of A Charlie Brown Christmas. Based upon the classic animated TV special featuring characters from Charles Schulz's "Peanuts" comic strip, A Charlie Brown Christmas for iOS is decidedly more interactive than How the Grinch Stole Christmas. Almost everything in A Charlie Brown Christmas is bound to jingle, jangle, or otherwise move when touched. There's even a reproduction of Schroeder's piano, which you can tap to play a tune from the TV special. A Charlie Brown Christmas boasts a lot of other interactive features. But like How the Grinch Stole Christmas, it also includes topnotch narration (performed by no less than the original voice of Charlie Brown) and individual word highlighting for young readers. A Charlie Brown Christmas is developed by Loud Crow Interactive, which has also published the Halloween-themed It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown for iOS. Both compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad, How the Grinch Stole Christmas and A Charlie Brown Christmas are available in the App Store for $0.99 and $2.99, respectively. If you want more notable Christmas-themed book apps, check out our Christmas E-Books for Children AppList. Of course, if you have other suggestions for iOS book apps, Christmas-themed or otherwise, or for anything that’s fit for Shelf Control for that matter, please feel free to email me at aldrin@appadvice.com or simply leave a comment below. [gallery link="file" order="DESC"]