My soon to be three year old son is mesmerized by my iPad.  Whenever he sees it his face lights up, and he says “Daddy, I want to see your book!”.  It is so cute how he calls the technological marvel that is the iPad a book.  It could be that I keep my iPad in the Pad and Quill Octavo case which does look like a book, or it could just be that he reads books on it so in his mind it is just that.  In any case, there are a few iPad books / apps that my son absolutely adores, and it is easy to see why.  They are so well made and beautifully illustrated that he never tires of them (even after reading them more times than I can count).  For all you iPad fans with little ones, here are my top 3 interactive children’s books.

Nighty Night! HD

This book presents your child with a quaint farm house late at night.  You can hear the crickets as you look at the house from the outside.  All the lights are on inside the house.  It is your child’s job to turn off all the lights so that the animals inside and outside the house can go to sleep.  Press a lit window and you are taken inside the house where you can turn off lights and watch the animals put themselves to bed.  As you put the animals to bed, the book’s narrator chimes in by saying goodnight to the animals.  For instance, put the duck to bed and the narrator says, “Good night dear duck”.

After all the animals are asleep the narrator congratulates the reader for turning off all the lights and encourages the reader to go to bed.  This is a wonderful book to read to your son or daughter before bedtime.  The production and design of this book are top notch.  The narration and art direction in this book are superb.  And the best part is this book only costs $1.99.  This book is short, but definitely worth two dollars.

3 Little Pigs – Pop Up Adventure

Search the App Store for 3 Little Pigs and you will find many versions.  The one that I highly recommend with the endorsement of my son is 3 Little Pigs – Pop Up Adventure.  The first thing that struck me about this book is that it is made by Coleco (the popular 80s toy company).  The second thing that struck me about this book is how well it simulates a 3D pop up book in 2 dimensions.  The artwork in this book is colorful and really well done.  There is a nice, subtle orchestral score that serves as background music that really elevates this book over everything else.

One of the best things about this book is how interactive it is.  As you read the story, your child can press objects on the page and they will animate and make sounds.  For instance press the sun and the sun will spin and say “Hot! Hot! Hot!”.  Also when the big bad wolf blows the first two pigs houses down, your child is given the opportunity to blow the house down.  The App uses the iPads internal microphone and listens for your child to huff, puff, and blow the house down.  My son likes to scream “Go Away!” and make the house blow away.  There is a free lite version of this book to try it out and you can buy the whole book for $4.99.  You are going to want the whole book once you try out the lite version.

The Monster at the End of This Book

Kids love Sesame Street and this interactive Sesame Street book stars lovable, furry, old Grover (who I believe is one of the most underrated Sesame Street characters).  I have always found Grover to be hilarious and he is in top form in this book.  At the start of this book Grover realizes that there is a monster at the end of the book, and being afraid of monsters Grover does everything he can to keep your child from turning pages.  Grover reasons that turning pages will get him closer to the monster, but by not turning pages the monster can be avoided.  Grover talks directly to the reader and keeps telling the kids not to turn pages.  Since two year olds love to do the opposite of what they are told, my son turns the pages with glee and laughs at Grovers reactions.  Spoiler alert: the monster at the end of the book turns out to be Grover.

Like the other books I’ve mentioned this book is full of interactive content.  At one point Grover builds a brick wall to keep the reader from turning pages, and your child gets to smash the brick wall.  This book is really fun and is a delight to read for children of all ages.  This one will run you $3.99 and it is well worth it.