Just Me and My Puppy – Little Critter

Review & Giveaway

Developer: Oceanhouse Media

Review:

by Admin Christie

Oceanhouse Media has recently published another Little Critter omBook called Just Me and My Puppy. For those unfamiliar, Little Critter is a series of stories written by Mercer Mayer about Little Critter’s childhood. Little Critter is a hamster character who is full of imagination, love, and of course mischief! Little Critter is a great series as children can easily identify with his adventures and emotions and also helps teachers, parents, and kids themselves be aware of emotions and how to deal with those situations.

In Just Me and My Puppy, Little Critter trades his baseball mitt with his friend for a little puppy. He learns all about his responsibilities that are needed in order to take care of his new puppy.  It’s a cute book for those children who already have a dog or even may want a dog about some of the responsibilities of taking care of one. And that it’s not an easy job! Not only does the puppy need to be fed, cleaned, and walked, Little Critter learns how to teach the puppy tricks and manners. My family has two cats, so my preschooler can relate to the responsibility lesson here even though dogs and cats don’t have the same exact needs! This is definitely another cute omBook starring Little Critter to teach children a lesson or make them think about what the responsibilities that entail with getting as well as raising a dog.

A cute mini-game is found within the app where you find grasshoppers and also spiders throughout the story. At the end of the book, the story calculates the total number of grasshoppers and spiders the reader found within the book. Oceanhouse Media does a great job at combining the original text and artwork of Mercer Mayer, yet providing extras, such as touching a picture to hear and see what that picture is of. You also can replay an entire paragraph if interested. The highlighted words feature is great for early readers.

Just like Oceanhouse Media’s other omBooks, you have the options to “Read to Me” (reader turns the pages, sees the words highlighted as they are read by a professional narrator) “Read it Myself,” (like a book where you turn the pages and read on your own with sound effects in the background,) or “Auto Play” (like a movie especially good for the younger audience.) And now Oceanhouse Media has even added the special feature “Record your own voice” to their omBooks, as another option to listening to the omBooks with the great narrator.

Description:

Little Critter has brought home an adorable puppy. His parents agree to let him keep it as long as he takes care of it himself. Little Critter is proud of the job he’s doing, happily feeding, walking, training and loving his new friend. The funny illustrations, however, show that the puppy is a lot of work and quite a handful! Nonetheless, in Little Critter eyes it’s all worth it!

Mercer Mayer’s Little Critter stories, which address all the major issues of growing up, are perennial favorites of parents and children.

New features only available in this interactive omBook include professional narration, background audio and enlarged artwork for each scene.

To promote reading in young children, individual words are highlighted as the story is read and words zoom up when pictures are touched. By combining the original text and artwork of author Mercer Mayer with features that entertain and promote reading, this omBook appeals to readers of all ages.

Recommended Ages: 2 – 5

SPECIAL FEATURES:
★ Record your own voice
★ Share voice tracks with others that own this app
★ Page selector
★ Retina main menu
★ New options for sound effects, hot spots and alerts

Three ways to read this omBook (Oceanhouse Media digital book):
★ “Read to Me” — listen to the narrated story with words highlighted as they are read
★ “Read it Myself” — read the book in its traditional form
★ “Auto Play” — plays like a movie, automatically reading and turning pages. Great for younger children!

Additional Features:
★ Picture / Word association — words zoom up and are spoken when pictures are touched
★ Individual words highlight and are read aloud when tapped
★ Find the creature mini-game
★ Professional audio narration
★ 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

Specifications:

Category: Books
Updated: 20 February, 2013
Version: 2.1
Language: English
Requirements: Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch and iPad. Requires iOS 5.0 or later.

Links:

Website: Oceanhouse Media
Facebook Page: Oceanhouse Media
Twitter: @OceanhouseMedia
Pinterest: Oceanhouse Media
You Tube: Oceanhouse Media
App: Just Me and My Puppy – Little Critter
Cost: $1.99

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Giveaway:

We have a Rafflecopter giveaway until March 19, 2013