The world's largest reviewer of books, multimedia, and technology for children and teens
Seeing is believing. Pages of a picture book literally come to life in this demo of the augmented reality app “Imag.N.O.Tron,” a companion to The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore, the Oscar-winning film, app, and book by William Joyce.
The post Video: Playing with the Augmented Reality App IMAG-N-O-TRON appeared first on The Digital Shift.
Apps involving monsters, both real and imagined, are among the digital publications examined in School Library Journal’s app review column Touch and Go.
In this month’s cover story for School Library Journal, Jonker, an elementary school librarian, documents the launch of an ereader lending program in words and pictures. This article is adapted from a series of posts at Jonker’s blog 100 Scope Notes, which is moving to SLJ.com.
The 50th birthday celebration of Norman Bridwell’s iconic Clifford the Big Red Dog will kick off on September 24th at 10 am with a party at Scholastic’s New York City headquarters. And everybody can join in on the “Biggest Birthday Party Ever!” The live event will be streamed to classes across the country. Teachers can register now so their students can watch the festivities and Bridwell’s 30-minute webcast. There’s also a free kit that includes lesson plans, art project ideas, and coloring pages. In addition, Norman Bridwell’s Clifford Collection, six stories originally published between 1963 and 1977, will be released on the same day.
SLJ columnist Jeff Hastings test drives Aerbook Maker, a new platform for creating your very own tablet-ready graphical ebooks.
Pay-as-you-go ebook service BrainHive is now available to schools. Titles offered include a range of fiction and nonfiction from publishers including Random House, Charlesbridge, Lee & Low, and Lerner. Carolyn Foote, district librarian, Eanes ISD in Austin, TX, calls it an “out-of-the box and creative pricing model that sets a new standard.”
Wondering if your perceptions of teen online behavior are correct? Have boys really started texting more? Does it seem like most 13 year olds are already engaged in online social networking? Get the answers to these questions and more from this terrific Slideshare summary of “Truth, Trends, and Myths About Teen Online Behavior,” the latest teen-focused study from the Pew Internet & American Life Project, sponsored by the Pew Research Center.
Education software outfit Kno has partnering with publisher Houghton Mifflin Harcourt to offer interactive textbooks for K–12 students. The digital titles, which align with Common Core subjects, are available for $9.99 or less for a one-year rental.
Handy tools for reading and ebook discovery that you can enjoy using yourself and perhaps put them to use with students in the classroom or library.
Two exquisitely photographed resources documenting the natural world and a digital rendition of that charming creation by Herv√© Tullet are SLJ’s top apps if the month.
You might want to check out Storia, says SLJ columnist Jeff Hastings. Scholastic’s slick and promising ereader platform is in soft launch, and they’re preparing to go big with it this fall.
Talking apps at ALA: Gretchen Caserotti, Amy Graves, Travis Jonker, and John Schumacher hosted a session on using apps with kids in the context of library services, both in public libraries and schools.
Amazon’s iPad and Cloud Reader apps now support more than 1,000 children’s books, comic books, and graphic novels in full color. Titles include Ian Falconer’s Olivia (Atheneum, 2000), Donald Crews’s Freight Train (Greenwillow, 1993), the popular “Sesame Street” and “Curious George” series, Neil Gaiman’s “The Sandman” series, and comics featuring DC superheroes such as Batman, [...]
Transmedia isn’t just a new buzzword that belongs to academics or high-priced media consultants. It’s an approach to storytelling that boasts a range of potential curricular applications that applies to literacy and the content areas.
When it comes to creating media-rich publications, iBooks Author is just one of many great options.
