During a child’s early years of learning, the love for books and reading is one of the most significant factor in honing their development. Once a child engages himself on matters that are beneficial to his future and understand at the same time how important it is to do so, rest assured, parents can calmly sleep at night knowing that their children are off to a bright tomorrow. Just like other parent duties, making children love something that appears to be boring is not an easy task. If not introduced to children properly and purposely, they can be scared with the thought of reading because it doesn’t come innate. So, how do one make the kiddos unconsciously accumulate all the right love for reading, books, and learning? Simple. Present those things to them in a fun and positive manner that they can’t resist.

Since children are very bright-eyed in front of almost anything that’s colorful and that moves, parents will never go wrong with these interactive story books made available for Android devices. Nothing beats the feeling of holding a real book but let’s be realistic here, for the young ones, a tablet is way much cooler than a bundle of paper stacked together. Read on to see the list of Applatter’s picks for storybook Android apps.

The untainted minds of children gives that feeling that fairy tales and happy endings can indeed come true. And while they still possess the gift of innocence, fill their minds with what filled ours when we’re they’re age: magical creatures, the power of love, and the actualization of dreams. The palpable fame of e-books have already made its moves towards targeting children. The interactive story books of today are so much better than ever. To salute the developers in integrating high-end technology with the classics, here’s a list of story book applications for Android that’s sure to capture every child’s rich imagination.

The Frog Prince

AppleTreeBooks has a collection of interactive story books that features renowned tales that we’ve known since, okay, almost forever and they also have original creations in store. The story of The Frog Prince is not as popular as the others but nobody can seem to forget about the fate of a prince trapped in a frog’s body until a princess lets him eat on her plate and sleep on her bed. Upon the frog’s transformation back to a prince, they both lived their lives happily married to each other. A short story but compelling enough to instill in us that love shouldn’t rely on the superficial characteristics of a person.

The vivid and shapely illustrations with fresh colors is a delight. The storybook is available in two languages, Chinese and English. There are objects in each page where children can tap so it will move as a form of the tale’s interactivity. It also comes with its own recorder so children can read aloud and listen to themselves with the use of this feature. What I liked most about the app is its “sleeping mode” wherein the app softly narrates the story alongside a soft music.

Through the app’s online bookshelf, it will notify you if there are new published stories that are available in the Google Play Store. Very efficient if you’ve decided to download everything that they make.

Snow White

Who doesn’t know anything about the poisoned apple? Being Disney’s first princess, the misfortunes of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs were welcomed by all with open arms. Her signature look of having porcelain white skin and her black hair with a red ribbon is a style that every kid knows by a glance. Add to the fact that she’s the first princess to be revived by love’s kiss, definitely, Snow White started all our longing for a prince.

There are three modes that’s available in the app: Read To Me, Read By Myself, or Read and Play. This makes the app very interesting for children since they can do so much more other than just follow the events. During the story, the characters will ask its readers things which makes it a fully interactive application. With questions on what to do and where to go, children will feel like they are thoroughly involved in the story line. The app is only available in English. It may be a downside but it can enhance your child’s vocabulary.

What I appreciated with the app is its very cute graphics. The bubble-head type of illustration is a perfect fit for children of all ages. Even adults can be smittened with it, look at me!

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Pinocchio

As compelling as the story of Pinocchio, the storybook counterpart created by PlayTales Books Classic is just as superb. Although the graphics would appeal to an older set of audience, which is completely fine, children below the age of 4 may not be so keen on its over-all style. Well, the app indicated this fact, actually. Saying that it’s for children 8 years old and above. But it can still work. It’s a bit of a cross between being grotesque and the paper cut-out kind of art and it’s beautiful as it is. One of my favorite fairy tales is that of Pinocchio because it instills that lying is a thing of many consequences.

What makes this storybook extra special is the four mini-games spread out on the 21-paged story. And there’s also a cute feature where you can create your own virtual puppet! You can control it by tapping. Cool, huh?

Red Riding Hood

Back then, the story of Little Red Riding Hood gave me chills! The thought of almost being eaten by a wolf was too much for my meager thoughts. Nonetheless, the creeps made me not forget about the story even though it’s in a negative note. And being part of the long list of classics, StoryToys developed a very engaging storybook for the entertainment and enlightenment of many. Their take on the tale of a child visiting her grandmother was made into a virtual pop-up book with illustrations that’ll remind you of the Archie Comics.

The application can be changed into 7 languages and makes use of three modes of reading as well. The effect of reading a real book within the app is commendable because the pop-out pages are amazing! Definitely something that children can never get tired of!

Cinderella

 CluePoint’s artistic take on Cinderella has proved to be masterpiece. With pop-up screens that also acts as a form of a cut-scene, children aged 3-8 are sure to have a ball with our rags to riches princess. Different pop-up scenes need its readers participation by means of moving (touch and drag) the objects on their screen which are essential to finish the story. The 3-dimensional rotation effect enhances the natural reading experience and adds to the wow-factor that this interactive storybook already has.

The characters are avatar-like, which is just splendid! Children will easily identify the different personas in the story with all the interactivity that it allows. To match the magical on-screen graphics, the app has a great music scoring to get the sleepyheads tucked tight.