AppWatch

What a Cute, Little … App?

Application: The Poky Little Puppy app

Produced by: Random House Children's Books

Price:$4.99, with an introductory price of $3.99

Features: Like most people, Book Business can't resist a cute little puppy … or app. Put the two together, and Book Business can hardly contain itself! Random House (RH) Children's Books recently launched its "The Poky Little Puppy" interactive storybook app for the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch, available in the iTunes store. The best-selling picture book of all time, according to the company, "Poky" is one of the 12 original Little Golden Books published in 1942, and the first to be launched as an app.

The "Poky Little Puppy" app was designed "to encourage reading and listening comprehension skills, and to reinforce core preschool-level concepts," according to the company. From its swipe-to-open feature to interactive illustrations on each page, it taps apps' capabilities for engaging content. Users can watch and listen (words are highlighted while the story is narrated), read silently, or tap a word to hear it spoken aloud. Readers (or parents) also can record themselves narrating the story. A "Hide-and-Seek" challenge unlocks bonus stickers, which readers can use to create their own storybook scene.

RH Children's Books collaborated with digital media agency Smashing Ideas, which RH parent Bertelsmann AG acquired earlier this year for its Random House Inc. division. BB