Bottom Line: Fairy Tales — 3D Interactive Pop-up Books is a collection of classic fairy tales with interactive scenes throughout that allow the reader to feel like they are part of the story. The Princess and the Pea is free, and currently they are offering a holiday gift worth $7 that enables readers to choose three more stories for free. Currently there are eight books with plans for more to come.
If you’d like to download Fairy Tales — 3D Interactive Pop-up Books (iPad/iPhone, FREE with in-app purchases), please use the link below:
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No ads, but there are in-app purchases and external links
What’s free? The Princess and the Pea is free; other books available by purchase or collection of coins
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At first glance, Fairy Tales — 3D Interactive Pop-up Books by developer Better World offers up classic fairy tales in a traditional book form. Each story starts off as a read-to-me (or read-to-yourself, if that’s what you choose) book with classic storybook pages of text. The stories are those that we already know and love and are told in a very pleasant fashion that alone would be a lovely book to read. At first, though, I was a little confused by the name “3D Interactive Pop-up Books.” These were nice, but not really interactive.
But then — BAM! — after every few pages of text an interactive scene pops up with quirky characters and lots of action. Each pop-up page relives the most recent parts of the story from the previous pages in a lively, interactive fashion. Little readers can help the characters through their story, keeping them engaged and eager.
Currently there are eight stories available (with more coming soon):
- The Princess and the Pea — FREE
- Cinderella
- Goldilocks and the Three Bears
- Mother Snow
- The Enormous Turnip
- The Three Little Pigs
- The Three Spinners
- The Wolf and the Seven Little Kids
Quality-wise, I found that this app functioned very smoothly. The graphics were bright and happy, and the voice of the narrator was actually quite pleasant to listen to. I did notice that it did take a bit of time for the stories to download each time. Users will want to make sure that they have a really good wi-fi signal when they start downloading. I also noticed that there was a slight lag as each story (and the mini-game) loaded on each playing. This happened to me even with the strongest of signals.
The Princess and the Pea is always free. Users may purchase additional stories through in-app purchases or by collecting points each day to save for purchase. Right now there is a holiday bonus of 7000 points that will allow users to download three of the books.
Also included is a pop-up mini game that lets little ones connect the dots of the stars to create shapes relating to each of the storybooks.
What I liked:
- The merging together of traditional storybook and super active pop-up really worked for me. It was a nice surprise in the first book we read, and it kept my little readers interested in each new story as they waited to see what new action the story held.
- These classic stories with quirky characters were a great mix.
What I might change:
- My main issue was with the lag times I had waiting for books and games to load. I understand it on initial download, but I wonder if there isn’t something programmers might be able to do for the in-game ones.
Fairy Tales: 3D Interactive Pop-up Games would make a nice addition to anyone’s book app library. With the current holiday gift available, readers will want to take advantage of this quickly.
*****
Kelli is beginning to feel the holiday panic. SmartAppsForKids.com was paid a prioritiy review fee to complete this review in an expedited manner.
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