What a Bad Dream – Little Critter

Review & Giveaway

Developer: Oceanhouse Media

Review:

Oceanhouse Media has also published Little Critter omBook called What a Bad Dream. 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 What a Bad Dream, Little Critter dreams he turned himself into a monster. He gets to do whatever he wants and doesn’t have a care in the world. So during the book, Little Critter winds up not caring for other people’s feelings. Be sure to buy the omBook to find out how it ends after he wakes up from his dream. After reading this with my preschooler, it was an opportunity for me to talk to her about how she may dream of scary things one day, but to always remember how those dreams are not real. And also, mommy and daddy are always there to watch over and protect her!

A mini-game is found within the app where you find grasshoppers and 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 dreams that a magic potion turns him into a scary, disagreeable monster that no one wants to be around. In his dream, he does whatever he wants. He has cookies and ice cream for breakfast, doesn’t brush his fur or fangs, never changes his clothes or takes a bath, skips school and stays up late watching TV. When Little Critter is sleepy and ready for bed, there’s no one there to tuck him in and read him a story. Luckily for Little Critter, it’s all just a bad dream. Young children will relate to the sweet and funny ending!

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: Book
Released: 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: What a Bad Dream – Little Critter
Cost: $1.99

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Giveaway:

We have a Rafflecopter giveaway until March 27, 2013