We are big fans of the Little Critter series by Mercer Mayer.   Although it’s not specified what species the Little Critter is, he resembles a small and furry mammal such as a porcupine, hedgehog, hamster, or guinea pig according to Wikipedia.  I read about Mercer Mayer and the journey he took to become the famed author and illustrator that he is today.  It is quite interesting and you should check out his website sometime. Maybe we can persuade him to do an interview with us – will keep you posted!

You can read more about him here: http://www.littlecritter.com/about_mercer_mayer2.html

Oceanhouse Media Giveaway:

Mercer Mayer fans will be excited to learn that Oceanhouse Media latest digital book app is Little Critter Collection #2, featuring 10 popular Little Critter stories that lovingly address all the major issues of growing up.

In celebration of the new release and sale, Oceanhouse Media is offering 5 codes for some of Penelope’s mates!

Photo courtesy of Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/69772849@N07/6342704189/sizes/m/in/photostream/

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Our former company was a video game company. After leaving that company, we decided to take over 20 years of combined expertise in video games and technology development and apply it to kids books, given how the market is transitioning so quickly to digital. We’ve spent a lot of time building a powerful book engine (in essence, really it is a game engine) that is the underlying technology for Blackfish Children’s Books. We have been porting books from a physical version into our interactive digital version.

Our book engine is the most sophisticated book engine on the market. It is a cross platform engine that works with iPad, iPhone, Android phones and tablets, Kindle Fire, PC, and Macs. Many of the books we’ve been making have great features such as interactive animations on every page, narration with word highlighting, and record your own narration. We’re the only company that has all the features we have that works on all the major hardware platforms. We also have some unique features such as having the ability to choose the main story character, add customizations to make the story about yourself, and the ability to create choose-your-own-path adventures.

How did the idea for The Great Illustrator Project come about? What are you most excited about with this project?

After we did all the work on our game engine, we realized that if we put a relatively small amount of effort to create a front end user interface, we could make a really powerful story-creator app, where people could make their own stories quickly and easily. In order to make a product like that the most valuable, though, you need to a large library of art people can use. At the same time we were starting to develop the Blackfish Story Creator, I came across a Linked In thread asking for illustrators to illustrate a children’s book. I was amazed at the response – hundreds of illustrators responded for a single posting. Not everyone had a great portfolio, but many of them did. I was amazed at the level of talent looking to do that work. Finally, I had been looking for a Kickstarter project I thought could be funded. The three concepts all came together, and we created the Great Illustrator Project.

Any news you want to share with Penelope’s mates?

We have reached our minimum funding on The Great Illustrator Project. That said, the main thing we are trying to accomplish in the project is to hit our Stretch Goals. I think people don’t realize how powerful the project can become. The bigger the project gets, the more valuable everyone’s pledge becomes. If we raise $5k, then a $25 pledge will allow you to use $2500 of art. If we raise $100k, though, then a $25 pledge will let you use $50k of art. The project can become really exciting if we are able to get some momentum and grow it!

Thank you Tom!  And mates be sure to stop by our  Blackfish Children’s Book Facebook Party this Tuesday the 2st at 5pm PST for some trivia, fun and loads of goodies!  We will be talking to Tom more about The Great Illustrators Project as well as providing some very cool items to participants unique to the project!

You can read more about the party here: http://dandelionmoms.com/2013/05/blackfish-childrens-books-facebook-party-may-21st/

To Learn More About The Great Illustrators Project check out the Kickstarter Video and see what the Rafflecopter $100 Pledge is all about: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1081951836/the-great-illustrator-project

You can read more about Blackfish Children’s Books here:

https://twitter.com/customizabooks
https://www.facebook.com/Customizabooks
http://pinterest.com/customizabooks/

Facebook event page
https://www.facebook.com/events/649340751758564/

And good news!  Tom is offering all of the Blackfish Children’s Storybooks (9 total) to one lucky mate PLUS a $100 pledge that goes towards The Great Illustrators Project!  Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Developer Duckie Deck has created some very cute apps for toddlers on up.  Over eight million toddlers and preschoolers have played with their educational games.  Their apps cover important topics, from brushing teeth to sharing with others – things that are essential for a healthy and well-rounded young mind. By showing examples of everyday situations in an imaginative and stimulating way, their aim is to expand kids’ understanding of their world and make learning fun.

This week we are featuring their Sharing with Duckie Deck app.  The app opens up to a page where we have six games to choose from that includes sections on how to share, matching games and drawing games.  The sharing game was sweet.  There are four little kids at a dinner table and there is a large cake that we have to cut up and split between them equally.  If we don’t give a piece to one of the kids, they say Oh! and frown.  But if you split up the pieces equally, everyone shouts Yippee! And when they eat their cake, apple or piece of chocolate they are really enjoying their food and saying yum, yum, yum while eating.  Very cute!  The illustrations remind me of Toca Boca apps and the Sharing with Duckie Deck is of the same caliber in my opinion.  I like how clever all of the games are to choose from.  The animation is simple but perfect for this age group.  For example, in one of the matching games, we see a cat hiding behind the sofa.  The only part we see of the cat is her tail and when we touch it she peeks her head around the sofa and says meow.  This will surely delight your toddler!

My six year old helped me review it and she really liked the section where we decorated a birthday cake.  Of course she did!  There were lots of fun items to decorate the cake with like a rubber duckie, candles, sprinkles and more.  I could see how a preschooler could spend quite some time decorating the perfect cake.  And each time you complete an activity you get a sticker to put in your sticker book.

The illustrations are very sweet and every time you get the correct answer the kids say Yeah!  All of the colorful games will keep them entertained.  There are several different matching games and drawing and coloring-in sections.  I like how the drawing section shows how to draw the object and the child is able to trace it and then color it in.  They offer some fun things to learn how to draw such as a rocket ship and bat.  And the matching card games were great – there are several designs to go through.  We really enjoyed the circus-themed matching game and each time we turned over a card we hear the sound the clown makes with his bicycle horn.

With Sharing with Duckie Deck, your kids will learn attributes and lessons while having fun which is the best way to learn. It is important to learn what it is to share and how it affects the children and also their peers around them. These games are complete with many colorful characters which display sounds and emotions which are related to sharing.  We really enjoyed this app and I think it is a great app to help talk to your toddler and preschooler about the importance of sharing. I know when my daughter and her friends were in their 3′s, they had a tough time understanding the concept of sharing.  The Sharing with Duckie Deck will help explain why it is important to share with others in a fun and colorful manner.

To read more about Duckie Deck go to:

May is Better Speech and Hearing Month:

Did you know that May is “Better Speech and Hearing Month”? To celebrate this month, I want to share about a specific area of language development, answering who, what, where, and when questions or as speech therapists usually call them “wh questions”. Answering wh questions is an essential language skill that children should learn. Deficits in answering and asking wh questions have a serious impact on a child’s communication skills, performance in class, and the development of reading comprehension. Between 3 and 4 years, a child should start understanding and using questions about objects, people, and basic events. Between 4 and 5 years, a child should be able to pay attention to a short story and answer simple questions about them.

Here are a few tips that might be helpful if your child or student is having difficulties answering questions.

• Provide visual cues, such as photographs/pictures or objects to help them respond correctly
• Focus on one wh question at a time (i.e. only practice what questions or who questions)
• With some children it is best to start with what questions, next who, then where, and finally when and why. However, some what questions could be difficult for children to answer, such as ones that require the answer to be a verb. Example, “What is he/she doing?”. An easier what question would be “What is that?”.  If you ask the question in different ways you might confuse your child. For example, what do you play with, what is that, what do you use to write, what is he doing. Asking your child a what question with the answer being a noun and the object is in front of the child would be much easier than asking a what question that requires the child to think about an answer and the object is not in their sight.
• Provide choices to generate answers if your child does not respond on the first attempt. For example, if you ask “What did you do in art today?” and your child does not respond, change the question to offer choices, “Did you paint or draw a picture?”.
• When reading books with pictures, ask your child questions about the pictures. For example, “Who is this?, What is she doing?”.
• Say a statement about a picture or experience like, “She plays with a stuffed animal. What do you play with?”
• Create visual supports to help your child understand what each type of question is asking. An example, you could write the word “where” and provide a picture of places or locations next to it. Do this for all the of the different wh questions.

How to Customize Questions2Learn:

I want to tell you about how you can use my app Questions2Learn to help children who have difficulty comprehending questions about stories. One feature of my app is customizing your own category of questions. So you could create questions about a trip your child goes on, visiting the zoo or about a favorite book. It allows you to create questions, insert images saved in your iPad’s photo library (personal or copies from the internet) or choose from the pre-programmed pictures. You record your personal voice when reading the questions.

The customization feature of Questions2Learn could help children who have difficulty comprehending questions about stories or about experiences. You could create questions about a trip your child goes on, visiting the zoo or about a favorite book. It allows you to create questions, insert images saved in your iPad’s photo library (personal or copies from the internet) or choose from the pre-programmed pictures. You record your personal voice when reading the questions. Check out a video of me explaining how to customize Questions2Learn by creating a category of questions about the story book app Gerry the Giraffe at www.speechpups.com/training.

About the Author:

Leanne Pool is a speech language pathologist with many years of experience working in schools. Currently she works in a school district and for a private practice. Throughout her experiences she has evaluated and provided therapy to children with a variety of disorders. Her passion is helping children who are non-verbal or who are low verbal use assistive technology to communicate functionally. She also uses the iPad with her students to help them learn skills and communicate. She is the owner of Speech Pups LLC, a company that designs speech and language apps for the iPad. Leanne designed and created Questions2Learn, an iPad app that helps individuals understand and answer who, what, where, and when questions (wh questions). One of the unique features of Questions2Learn is customizing the pre-programmed question’s picture choices and creating your own questions and categories using your personal images and voice recordings. The settings can be adjusted to meet your child’s individual needs by choosing which question type to work on and focusing on a specific category of questions (home, school, food/drink, etc.). It also has an option to use visuals to help your child or student understand how many questions he or she will answer. To help make life easy the app also collects data, which can be emailed or printed to track progress. Leanne is seeing a big improvement in her students’ language skills as they are motivated to work for longer periods of time and are gaining an understanding of answering wh questions. The children are positively reinforced by Leanne’s two “speech pups”, Moca and Dakota! You can read more about the full version of Questions2Learn at https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/questions2learn/id537209705

and the lite version (Free) of Questions2Learn at https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/questions2learn-lite/id537208661.

Please feel free to send me questions, feedback, and ideas at Leanne@speechpups.com or visit our FB page https://www.facebook.com/SpeechPupsLLC. We are hoping to do a big update to Questions2Learn in the near future focusing on the customization feature to make it more user friendly.

Photo courtesy of Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/clu_iss/5079790838/sizes/z/in/photostream/

If you are a self-published author you have probably heard of BookBaby.  They can convert your book (or manuscript) into an eBook for a very reasonable price and help with getting your book into major distribution channels.  With so many authors opting to go this route it is great to have BookBaby around.  One of the things I like about this company is that they charge you a flat up-front fee and that’s it.  They don’t take a percentage of your sales once it becomes available as an eBook.  There are not many services around that do that.  Having an innate sense of curiosity about the people behind the companies I like – I wanted to find out more about the person who created Book Baby.  In my eyes, this person and company is helping to realize people’s dreams.  How many people wish they could write and publish a story they might have been working on forever.  Well, BookBaby can help you realize this dream and the process is fairly simple.  Both Penelope and Gerry are available as eBooks created by BookBaby so I am speaking from experience when I say the process was quite easy.  CEO and Founder of BookBaby, Brian Felsen, and I had a chance to speak about what was the motivation behind starting BookBaby and what has been some of his more memorable experiences with his fellow authors.

ARGH!  Thar be pirates in them ships!

Our friends moved last month and I asked them if I could use some of their larger cardboard boxes after they were finished with them as my intention was to build a cardboard pirate ship for me mates!  Well, I did mention it was last month and the boxes are still sitting in my backyard.  In all fairness, I did attempt to build one but I am the type of person who needs instructions for these types of things!   I searched online and found some great how-to tutorial videos and pictures of some pretty cool pirate ships for me lassie.

How to Build a Pirate Ship:

Hope you join in on the fun and build yourself one to enjoy over the summer months.  Your kids just might think it’s Christmas in July if you surprise them with one of these cool pirate ships!

The pirate ship that came with the best instructions was found on Captain McGroovy’s site here: http://mrmcgroovys.com/products-page/download-plans/captain-mcgroovys-pirate-ship/ For a few dollars ($4.95) you can download his step-by-step tutorial on how to build a pirate ship like the ones pictured.  He also sells rivets if you’d rather use them instead of duct tape.  I like that can be reused again and again.

Top 5 Reasons Rivets are Better than Duct Tape

1. Projects stay together and last longer
2. Reusable – construct a new project every week
3. Easier to Use – big projects go together in a snap
4. Faster – more time for creativity and enjoying your project
5. More versatile – build with cardboard in new ways

It does seem like it might take an afternoon or two (or three in my case), but it does look doable!  If yer brave enough to attempt this let me know and send in pictures.  I plan to post mine once my husband and I finish it.  These ships would be fantastic for a pirate-themed birthday party!  Good luck mates!

The other day I was driving my daughter to school and she was playing with the iPad in the car.  She immediately chose to play with this new app I am reviewing today called Twinkle, Twinkle, Nighty Night by Alexis H. Purcell.  I can see why as you can’t help but be drawn in by the soothing music and cute illustrations.  This is the perfect story before nap time or bedtime.  The first page of the story provides you with a choice between having the story read to you or reading it to yourself.  This is a great feature for early readers to practice their reading skills.  You can also choose to have the music on or off.  Again, the music is ideal for this type of bedtime storybook!

The animations are simple such as when you touch the owl and her babies, they hoot (or coo is more like it) and blink open and shut their eyes.  As you turn the pages, it sounds like you are turning the pages in a book.  I just love when storybook apps do this as that is one of the things that I love most about books – that sound of pages turning.  Allison Keeme did a great job on the illustrations and is very age-appropriate for this toddler and preschool aged storybook app. We are told that it is nighttime in Jolly town and everyone has gone to bed.  Mom and Dad… brother Billy and sister Sarita are all sound asleep.  We can see each of them in their bedrooms, and when we touch their bedroom doors, they open up a crack and they both make sleeping sounds like big yawns.  You will find yourself relaxing alongside your child while reading this story – the narrator and music are quite soothing.

We see that the playroom still has a light on and we are told that our animal friends are still awake and have lost their happy dreams.  It is our job to help them find their happy dreams.  The stuffed animals are adorable but ready for bedtime.  We need to help them!  The next page is quite fun and as we wish upon (and touch) some blinking “wish” stars to help our furry friends - and all of their wishes come true!

For example, for Mikey the Monkey, his star brought him a banana and for Betsy the Bunny she received a yummy carrot and the list goes on.  It is our job to help them and bring each of their treats to them.  After they all get their goodies, the friends fall fast asleep.  But wait, there is one more surprise at the end that I won’t tell you – but it is just for your child to help him or her fall asleep.  The ending is very sweet and I love what the author, Alexis H. Purcell, writes:

To all children big and small, in heaven and on earth: You are all brilliant starts… keep shining. 

Very sweet!  I think you will find this a helpful storybook app to lull your toddler to sleep!

To read more about Alexis and her work go to: http://alexispurcell.com

You can find Twinkle, Twinkle, Nighty Night in iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/twinkle-twinkle-nighty-night/id632301293?mt=8

And here is the link to her first app: The Turkey Who Forgot How To Gobble

In conjunction with our interview with Michel Kripalani, Oceanhouse Media, has provided us with some major goodies to hand out to some lucky mates!  Little Critter Collection #1 by Mercer Mayer is a series of ten books in one app and valued at $14.99 each!

Good luck mates and make sure to share our interview with Michel as a thank you to the folks at Oceanhouse!

MAJOR UPDATE, NEW FEATURES! – Record your own voice and share voice tracks with others – New options for sound effects, hot spots and alerts – Page selector – New hints – Retina main menu – And more!

Recommended Ages: 2-5

Features:
★ New! Record your own voice
★ New! Share voice tracks with others that own this app
★ New! Page selector
★ New! Options for sound effects, hot spots and alerts
★ Three ways to read: “Read to Me,” “Read it Myself,” and “Auto Play”
★ Picture / Word association — words zoom up and are spoken when pictures are touched
★ Individual words highlight and are read aloud when tapped
★ Professional audio narration and custom background audio for each scene
★ Pages pan & zoom to accentuate the beautiful, original art of Mercer Mayer
★ This ‘Universal App’ is optimized for Retina displays and the iPad

More Little Critter! www.ombook.com/products/littlecritter/

Become a Fan: https://www.facebook.com/OceanhouseMedia

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Last year I met Natalie Aller at the home of Rebecca Cox whose son was getting a new iPad from an organization that provided  40 iPads to over 40 Kids in 40 States!  It was a great experience to see firsthand how remarkable how much this device can help children with special needs.  Since that time, I have seen Oceanhouse Media grow into one of the best developers out there.  The quality of apps they provide are pretty remarkable.  Of course, we love all of their Dr. Seuss and Berenstain Bears apps but they are such a wide selection of great apps.  I had a chance to speak to Michel Kripalani, the President of Oceanhouse Media about how he got involved in this business and how his background in the gaming industry helped him to acquire such classics as the Dr. Seuss series.

Q&A with Michel Kripalani, President, Oceanhouse Media, Inc.

Tell us what inspired you to create Oceanhouse Media?

The seeds of inspiration to start Oceanhouse Media were originally planted in the summer of 2008, when Apple launched the App Store for iPhone. I was working at another company at the time, but I really wanted to start something on my own. In January of 2009 the opportunity presented itself when I was laid off. This was the incentive I needed to start a new business. Oceanhouse Media was founded 48 hours after I found myself unemployed. I was definitely motivated, eager and ready to go.

Furthermore, as a new parent, I was especially interested in creating children’s apps that my own daughters could enjoy. Our first children’s digital book app was based on Dr. Seuss’s How the Grinch Stole Christmas! The success of this app resulted in us partnering with Dr. Seuss Enterprises to develop all 44 classic Dr. Seuss titles into interactive digital book apps. This, in turn, opened the door for us to create digital book apps for other beloved children’s authors as well such as The Berenstains and Mercer Mayer.

Today, we have nearly 300 apps available that uplift, educate and inspire.

I read that your background is in the gaming industry – how has that experience helped you to create such a powerhouse such as Oceanhouse Media?

Apps are software, so my background running a video gaming company was definitely the right experience when I dived into the app world. I had worked with many seasoned engineers and designers in the past. I brought many into the Oceanhouse Media team. Together, we were able to get in on the ground floor of the app industry and develop a proprietary book engine that serves as the basis of all of our children’s digital book apps. Our strong knowledge of programming coupled with my experience running two prior businesses has proven to be a big asset. It is definitely a collaborative process.

What changes have you seen in the industry since you first opened your doors?

A lot has indeed changed since we started Oceanhouse Media four years ago. Today, the competition has gotten fierce with thousands of apps released each day on Apple’s App Store alone. Getting noticed and staying on top of the charts is harder than ever. In addition, Oceanhouse Media supports a number of platforms and devices and keeping up with updates and software requirements is a demanding task for the team. Customer expectations are growing at a very rapid pace. Simple, quick-to-build apps used to satisfy. Not anymore. The minimum bar of entry for each and every app is now extremely high.

Any news you want to share with Penelope’s mates?

Stay tuned for more app releases in our popular The Cat in the Hat’s Learning Library and Smithsonian series. We’ve got some fantastic educational titles that we’re developing that are sure to be enjoyed by our young fans. Plus, we’re updating all of our children’s digital book apps to include our “Record and Share” feature and parental controls. We’ll also have the entire Dr. Seuss collection available as digital book apps by the end of the year. Look for Dr. Seuss’s The Butter Battle Book, The King’s Stilts, Bartholomew and the Oobleck, I Had Trouble in Getting to Solla Sollew and Scrambled Eggs Super! coming soon.

Exciting news Michel!  And stay tuned mates – they have provided us with some codes for a Little Critters storybook app to hand out!