Myro and the Jetfighter
Animated Storybook
with Read and Record
Review, Appy Chat & Giveaway
Developer: Myro
Description:
Narrated by Christopher Biggins, this exciting interactive storybook App is perfect for children mad about Aeroplanes, Animals and Adventures, all set in Awesome Australia! Features ‘Read & Record’.
￭ 32 story pages for iPad and iPhone
￭ Narrated by Christopher Biggins and other great actors
￭ Record your own voice 6 times!
￭ Perfect for encouraging boys to read
￭ Play the story like a video, even with your own voice!
￭ Animation, music and sound effects on every page
￭ Speech bubbles and surprises triggered by hotspots on every page
￭ Three interactive games
￭ Two Sing-Along-Songs with words
￭ Theme tune with Photo Album
￭ Previews of all the books
You Tube:
Specifications:
Category: BooksUpdated: 24 November, 2012
Version:1.1
Language: English
Requirements: Compatible with iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPhone 4S, iPhone 5, iPod touch (3rd generation), iPod touch (4th generation), iPod touch (5th generation) and iPad. Requires iOS 4.3 or later. This app is optimized for iPhone 5.
Review:
Myro and the Jetfighter is a cross between an animated video book, and activity center. In the story there is narration, a soundtrack and realistic sound effects combined with visually rich scenes to really help capture my sons’ imagination.
There is even an option to narrate the story yourself – which means you can make the language as simple or as complicated as you want, or you can even record the story in a second language! I really liked the positive message about teasing, doing the right thing, and giving second chances when appropriate. There was one moment at the end of the story when the other military jets chose to tease Jimo the jetfighter just as Jimo had done to Myro – this teasing from the other military jets was not addressed, but I did use it to jumpstart a discussion. My 5 year old son enjoyed tapping all the hotspots to reveal sound effects or comments from the characters, and viewing the map feature after every single page to see the path of the airplanes. My 8 year old is my military fiend, so Jimo the jet fighter was his favorite! I appreciate the tab at the bottom that allows jumping from page to page – this was especially useful for my military lover, so he could jump to the scenes with the jetfighter.
There is a tab in the left hand corner with more fun – there are songs, and three “game” activities. The first is a “cutaway” activity with parts of Jimo cut away to reveal its parts. You can touch the blue spots to reveal pop up labels of the components – I would love to see this information narrated as hot spots in the story are. The second activity is a “factfile”, containing information about each character in the story. Again , I would love for these facts to be narrated for non-readers. Here, my oldest learned that Jimo stands for Juliet India Mike Oscar, his call sign. In the third activity you can find the Phonetic Alphabet that pilots use to communicate and this activity is narrated! The kids loved typing in their names to see how they sound in pilot speech! The songs under the music tab are really catchy and cute – the lyrics are displayed (except for in the orchestral music selection, which has no words), but I do wish each word were highlighted when sung as well. I would say Myro the Jetfighter would be appropriate from 3-8 or so, my boys really enjoyed it!
Appy Chat:
When did you decide to develop this app?
Spring 2011 although the books were started in 2004 and the music in 2009. Without investing in all these resources so long ago there was no way a ‘one man band’ like myself supported by freelancers could have produced such a fantastic result.
When did you first release this app?
October 2012 with the iPhone update a few weeks later – so that it works on both platforms.
How long did it take you to develop this app?
18months with a freelance illustrator, App Programmer and a Music Director.
What is your favourite feature?
Having Christopher Biggins narrate the Apps! This also brings out the Read and Record feature so that children can recorde their own version. I feel it is very slick and easy to use and the fact that you can play it with all the sound effects and music etc.
What is your favourite page in the app? 
Pages 28 and 29 with the animation of the Chinook helicopter
What skills were you hoping to help the end user to develop?
To have a lot of fun and to encourage children to read themselves and make a video themselves by recording their own narration.
What age range would this app most suit?
3yrs to 7yrs – there is such a vast range as the little ones will just love playing with all the speech bubbles and looking at the pictures and the older ones will love recording their own voice and playing with the phonetic alphabet game
Are any new updates coming soon?
We have some great ideas for new teaching English and other games for in-app purchases mid next year.
We would love people to realise that this is a great story with so much more. The fact that Christopher Biggins loved it enough to work with us shows the confidence others have in the product.
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Giveaway:
We have a Rafflecopter giveaway until December 21, 2012
The Appy Ladies 