Featured Book Apps: Axe’s Monster Fest & The Monsterrific Music World Tour

It’s that time of year when all of the little monsters come out to play. This year there’s a new monster on the block. This book App is a continuation of the Axe’s Monster Fest adventures with lots of new characters to interact with.

The Monsterrific Music Fest is off to a great start as it takes the viewer on a world wind tour. This choose your path or adventure story format is a crowd pleaser.

See the Book App Alliance Feature story here

Book App Summary

Axe’s Monster Fest is the first of a two part series, which continues with The Monsterrific Music World Tour.  It features a group of adorable monsters, Axe and the Groundhogs who have big dreams of being Mon-stars. It’s a dream come true when the band is chosen to perform at the annual Monster Fest. When the lead singer loses her voice a few days before the show, The Groundhogs race against time to find the perfect monster because the show must go on. The adventure continues with The Monsterrific Music World Tour as the band follows their dream to go on tour.

About

Axe’s Monster fest is an interactive rock music themed storybook app while The Monsterrific Music World Tour is a non linear, choose your path adventure as the band takes the reader on a whirlwind tour. This educational story features world music, and a virtual tour of famous cities and their landmarks.

Behind the Books

Author and Teacher, Michelle Anaya, whose sons were reluctant readers, created this dynamic duo of monsterrific tales. These interactive books were created to become an educational and enjoyable alternative to video games. They also have curriculum and activities which are also downloadable from the author’s website.

Why will kids love these books?

Kids love the adorable monsters, their story, the music, playing with the instruments and the integrated games in Axe’s Monster fest. In The Monsterrific Music World Tour they enjoy driving the story as they get to choose the band’s tour stops. The additional activities such as the Music Studio and games are sure to please as well.

With fun things to see and do on every page, it’s perfect for teaching and entertaining ages 4-8!

The Monsterrific Music World Tour IPad Link

Featured Book App: Grendel’s Great Escape

Grendel’s Great Escape is the feature story over at The Book App Alliance this week. Quite an honor for this mischievous little Ferret and his pal Martin. Kid’s can’t help but love him and his story.

Kids also love interacting with this Book App and being a part of moving the story forward, plus they discover hidden interactive objects every time they open the app.

It is an interactive adventure with culturally diverse characters and a cute but mischievous Ferret. This story is full of humor and fun surprises for readers as they join Martin on his quest to find Grendel, his pet Ferret who escapes on show and tell day to explore the school.  This is a hide and seek themed adventure story for iPAD & Android tablets.Read more about this feature at The Book App Alliance

For more info on book Apps, Activities and Downloads visit Blue Sandpiper Imprints

Appy Holiday Gifts For New iPad Owners!

The holiday season is in full swing and parents everywhere are looking for holiday gifts and quality entertainment for children eager for a warm fireside activity.

The Book App Alliance publishes book app reading lists for parents looking for just this kind of treat, and our December Holiday edition is here to please.

Our list this month features a list of book apps that can be downloaded to a new iPad as a gift, or introduced for engaging new reading on a cold and blustery day.

This holiday list of endearing stories is sure to inspire new friendships, affirm old ones, and warm the cockles of your heart as the starlight sparkles through the cold crisp air of wintertime.

Click on the link below for the Book App Alliance December Holiday Reading List:

via Appy Holiday Gifts For New iPad Owners!.

App Gifting Tip for Parents: If you are introducing an iPad to your family over the holiday, sneak the iPad out of its wrapping and pre-load these books so that your children can immediately enjoy the fun when the wrapping comes off; you’ll make a bigger impact if they can engage in exciting content right away instead of waiting until later for downloads.

A Family-Friendly Reading List For The Season Of Thanksgiving

It’s Thanksgiving, and that means curling up by the fire with family and warding off a bustling wind with heartwarming stories!

Whether you are entertaining the kids while preparing a Thanksgiving feast, searching for unique food-themed stories, or getting ready for an afternoon nap after a thankful meal, this month’s Book App Alliance reading list offers a cornucopia of terrific storiesand entertaining activities you will be grateful for.

As winter approaches and outside time is limited, present your children with educational options that entertain with family-friendly stories from leading independent authors.

The Book App Alliance presents the November Thanksgiving Reading List: A Family-Friendly Reading List For The Season Of Thanksgiving.

Spooktacular-ish Book Apps

Boo! It’s that time of year when all things ghosts, goblins, monsters and mystery take center stage to celebrate Halloween!

Add to your kids’ spooky fun with these terrific stories from the The Book App Alliance Halloween Treats reading list!

October Book Apps – Halloween Treats.

Kids Love Apple’s iPad More Than Disney, Nickelodeon, YouTube: Survey

The i’s have it -Reposted from Variety.

There’s no such thing as a “free” app, so get over it and pony up!

Why is it that people think Authors & app developers should work for free? Would they?

The Speech Dudes

In this article, I’m, not just on a proverbial hobby-horse but whipping it frantically as I gallop wildly into the Valley of Death. I may even end up offending some readers but hopefully make some new friends along the way. So saddle up and join the posse!

Imagine getting the following e-mail from someone who wants you to provide therapy services for their child.

Dear Therapist

I am the parent of a child who cannot speak and really needs help. I saw that you offer therapy services to people like my child and I’d love to have access to them. However, I am really surprised that your therapy services are so expensive and think that you should provide them free of charge. Other people provide free therapy services and there are also many people who are not therapists who provide free therapy services in their spare time.

I’d be happy…

View original post 2,383 more words

#summersparks DAY 2: The Power of Doodling by Alison Hertz

Left Hook Crochet blog by: Tracey M. Cox

The Power of Doodling
By: Alison Hertz

When Tracey asked me to create a blog post for the Summer Sparks Challenge, I knew that I had to share the power of doodling. I am a writer and an artist and over the years whether I’ve considered myself “a writer who likes to draw” or an “artist who enjoys writing” has flip flopped many times. What has been consistent throughout my life is using the art of doodling to both help spark creative flow and to “see” my characters and my story develop.

Whether or not you’ve ever used your writing tools (pen, pencil, computer) to doodle, it’s not too late to start. There is no drawing skill required for doodling and you might surprise yourself. You may have seen Sunny Brown on TED talks about the Power of Doodling and if you missed it, you can click on this link: 

View original post 1,266 more words

Apps day out

Book Apps on exhibit at the NSSLHA conference

Grendel’s Great Escape and Axe’s Monster Fest aka Monster Jam were some of a select group of book apps on display at at the National Student Speech-Language-Hearing Association (NSSLHA) conference at Sacramento State University on February 1st. Thanks to exhibitor and therapist Jackie Bryla, SLPA. the apps were tested by the students while other attendees watched on monitors.

Jackie uses kid’s app in her therapy sessions to help children with their individual needs.

Grendel’s Great Escape on display

Axe’s Monster Fest being tested by a student

 

You just never know

As the year comes to a close I reflect on the friendships and relationships made this past year. The writing and teaching field has the most supportive people I’ve ever met and I’ve met a lot of people. They’re always willing to share information, opportunities and advice which is always valuable.

I recently met Monica Babaian in a twitter chat Story app chat that meets on Sundays at 8pm central. She’s a Tech savvy Librarian and i’m a Digital Author/aspiring Art Teacher. We even live in the same state but our paths might never have crossed had it not been for this chat. Her site is a great resource for parents and teachers which I plan on visiting often. The result of our meeting was an amazing app review with educational tie-ins and resources. It’s a great way to end the year and  as I look forward to the New Year, my resolution is to keep looking forward because you just never know where the next friend, opportunity or great idea will come from.

The review below was re-blogged from: http://innovativelibrarianship.blogspot.com/2013/12/storybook-app-grendels-great-escape-by.html

Storybook App: Grendel’s Great Escape by Michelle Anaya

Grendel’s Great Escape is a storybook app for both iPad and Android by children’s author and creator of Blue Sandpiper Imprints, Michelle Anaya (@bluesandpiper).

Grendel’s Great Escape is about a boy named Martin, who takes his pet ferret, Grendel, to school for show and tell. But when it’s Martin’s turn to present for show and tell, Grendel is missing! The entire school turns into a chaotic mess as Martin and his friends try to find Grendel while avoiding the wrath of the school’s principal, Mr. B.

What I really like about this storybook app is that it includes a long list of ferret facts at the end of the story. The storybook app also has its own curriculum for helping students develop reading strategies, which teachers and school librarians will find handy. For those teachers and school librarians who are allowed to have animals in their classrooms and libraries, a pet ferret would be a great way to make text-to-self connections with Grendel’s Great Escape.

Grendel’s Great Escape includes two screens of ferret facts!

Another possible way to use Grendel’s Great Escape in the classroom or library is to extend the storybook and reading strategies lesson into a science unit from Discovery Education (@DiscoveryEd), which has a couple of videos on ferrets and animal habitats. Yet another way – let students use online databases and encyclopedias to create their own list of ferret facts. Activities like these help students create text-to-world connections.

The storybook integrates interactive features throughout the book, including one page in which the reader can squirt ketchup or mustard all over the screen — something kids will surely enjoy. Readers have the option to turn the narration and music on or off. Blue Sandpiper Imprints recommends this storybook app for ages 4 and up. The Android version of Grendel’s Great Escape is $2.99, and the iPad version is $3.99.

For more information about Grendel’s Great Escape and other fun storybook apps from Blue Sandpiper, please visit their website.