iStoryBooks

iStorybooks is a collection of stories, each with the intention of promoting morals, ethics and cultural understanding to young children. Whilst the illustrations are not interactive, the realistic artwork will captivate young children’s attention. The app is better suited to a younger age range, as older children may not find the language used challenging. The app allows users to read with the narration either turned on or off. This is particularly helpful in enabling younger children who are not yet able to read properly to understand letterforms and correct pronunciation.

On opening the app the user will find the preloaded content displayed, along with a catalogue button in the bottom left of the screen. There is in-app advertising but this is only visible in the protected parent mode. However, the advertising here is all first-party, and we have confirmed with the developer that there are no plans at the moment to include any third-party content. The housed content is secure and can be customised by what parents feel is appropriate reading material for their child.

The content provided by ‘iStorybooks’ covers a wide range of topics including science, health, safety and equality. The wide range of topics covered will provide young learners with a wide range of awareness and understanding on life skills. The app provides a good range of free content and also provides the user with the option of purchasing additional content. To download the books one will require an internet connection, but once they are downloaded they will be stored in the app and can accessed even when offline. The app also offers the user the choice between using internal memory and a SD Card, which is useful where memory is a concern on the mobile device being used.

‘Lincoln and Laura in the Garden with Grandma’ is a fine example of one of the stories that covers a wide range of subcategories. The story starts with explaining the family relationship between Lincoln and Laura, the Grandma then begins to explain where vegetables come from and their composition. Grandma resolves the old wives tale that if you eat a seed it will grow into a plant, she does this by explaining the elements a plant requires in order to grow. Grandma explains the basic process of photosynthesis, keeping the language simplistic so Lincoln and Laura understand the process at a fundamental level. The story touches on the idea of food chains and ecosystems without loosing focus of the primary theme.

The user interface of the app is a simple carousel of book covers enabling young children to explore the title independently. Whilst the interface of the app is simple to use, it could benefit from some further organisation in the way of categorisation. For example, some of the content is in alternative languages; these could be grouped together to make it clear to the user which language the story will be told in.

This app provides learners with a great basic understanding of a wide range of topics that will encourage inquisitive minds to explore and question all aspects of the world they live in. It will help build emotional intelligence as well as assist parents in discussing topics that can be a little challenging to explain to young children. If you’re after children e-books for the new generation of readers then this is the app for you.

You can download iStoryBooks on your Android devices from the Google Play Store.