Toy Story 2 Read-Along

$4.99, iPad

Teaches: reading, language, logic, creativity

CTR Rating: 96%

CTR Review

Toy Story comes to your iPad with this 23 page/screen adaptation that mixes highlights of the second movie (Toy Story 2) with two games, two songs, three coloring activities and the ability to record your own narration. The graphics, narration and music are on-par with the movie (excellent) making this a good example of how an author's ideas can move from a printed page into an interactive device. Note, however, that we were able to crash the progam several times, for reasons we can't explain. Sometimes the program would freeze during a page turn; other times it would stop when loading an activity. Make sure to check for updates.Features include the ability to have the story read automatically, or to let the child flip through the book, one screen at a time (the pages curl, like paper). A pair of mouse ears at the screen bottom lead to a tray of options that include a microphone for recording your own narration (an excellent and powerful feature), the coloring activities, and scrolling set of pages, that makes it easy to jump directly to any page. This includes two games: Parachute Drop (tilt the screen to steer a soldier through a maze of obstacles) and Toy Barn Maze (swipe to move Buzz through a maze, collecting toys). Both games are active, and have three challenge levels. If you're looking for an excellent use of the iPad for a children's book, download this title.