iTunes App Review: “Horton Hears A Who!” by Dr. Seuss

Horton Hears a Who! – Oceanhouse Media

Released: February 22, 2011

ABOUT THE APP:

Horton the Elephant hears a small speck of dust talking to him. It turns out the speck of dust is actually a tiny planet, home to a city called Who-ville, inhabited by tiny inhabitants known as Whos. Their Mayor asks Horton to protect them from harm, which Horton happily agrees to do, proclaiming throughout the book that “even though you can’t see or hear them at all, a person’s a person, no matter how small.” In doing so he is ridiculed and forced into a cage by the other animals in the jungle for believing in something that they are unable to see or hear. How will Horton and the Whos escape this predicament?

New features only available in this omBook include professional narration, background audio and enlarged artwork for each scene.  To promote reading in young children, individual words are highlighted as the story is read and words zoom up when pictures are touched. By combining the original text and artwork of Dr. Seuss with features that entertain and promote reading, this omBook appeals to readers of all ages.

Three ways to read this omBook (Oceanhouse Media digital book):
★ “Read to Me” — listen to the narrated story with words highlighted as they are read
★ “Read it Myself” — read the book in its traditional form
★ “Auto Play” — plays like a movie, automatically reading and turning pages. Great for younger children!

Additional Features:
★ Picture / Word association — words zoom up and are spoken when pictures are touched
★ Professional audio narration
★ Custom background audio for each scene
★ Pages pan & zoom to accentuate the beautiful, original art of Dr. Seuss
★ This ‘Universal App’ is optimized for both iPhone4 and iPad

MY THOUGHTS:

This app is straight from Dr. Seuss and very simple but fun!  It starts out with three options:  Read to Me, Auto Play, and Read It Myself.  The Read to Me feature is the one we use most since my boys don’t read and like to take their time of each page.  Instead of having objects move or make a noise, you can tap anywhere on the screen and it will say what it is.  For example, you can hear “Flower” “Splashing” Horton the Elephant” and more.  Since, my boys love hearing new words I think it is great for them to hear all these words and see what they are associated with.  Going to the next page is very easy as you just swipe the page.  The animation reminds me of a Dr. Seuss book and the narrator has the perfect voice to narrate the story!  “Horton Hears A Who!” is our favorite story and I love that we can take it with us on our iPad or iPod Touch.

BUY IT: You can download Horton Hears a Who! – Oceanhouse Media for your iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad for $4.99

Mom and More Disclosure: I received this App to review in exchange for my honest opinion. Please see my Disclosure Policy.