Picture Me Trick or Treat

$0.99, iPhone, iPad

Teaches: reading, creativity, language

CTR Rating: 88%

CTR Review

Using the iPad's camera, this electronic edition of the printed Picture Me book lets you put up to eight of your own photos inside the story, peeking out of windows on the pages. The story, which is told in a rhyming narrative, is about children getting ready for trick-or-treating. The paper version is by Deborah D'Andrea, and it is published by Picture Me Press. The graphics are clear (the candy corn looks so good you could eat it) and the sounds work well with the story. Unlike the first edition, more of the interactive elements can be controlled by the child. For example, you can rearrange the candy corn on the screen. While all the interactivity isn't tied directly to the child's touches, the idea of putting your own photos into the story works like a charm and is very easy. You can snap a photo with the device camera, in real time, or choose from photos in your own library. Photos are easy to position into the pages. We didn't like the email or photo icon on each page (a toddler could possibly take hundreds of screen shots - with supervision, this shouldn't be a problem) and it is not possible to easily jump to specific pages in the story. Also missing, Oceanhouse Media's trademark labeling system, where the words pop out of the screen, and fly over the objects they represent. If you've ever wanted to see what you look like in a fuzzy puppy costume, this app will give you a chance. See also Picture Me Cute as Can Bee.