If you’ve ever laughed at JibJab’s hilarious ecards, like this one of the CMP staff at Halloween, you know how funny it is to see your own visage shimmying while dressed like Dracula, or busting a Mummy move.
And now that they’ve entered the world of children’s ebooks for the iPad, your kids will get a huge kick out of seeing themselves as the star of their very own picture books.
But if you are expecting the same old “kids’-fingers-all-over-the-screen-while-I’m-try-to-read” experience, you may be pleasantly surprised at how much the childrens ebooks from JibJab resembles a regular bedtime story, with some very cool technology to enhance it all.
Kicking off with the free The Biggest Pizza Ever, JibJab’s zany sense of humor is all over this story about a kid whose pizza creation gets a wee bit too big. The animation is awesomely ridiculous, like the little spaghetti arms rolling out the pizza dough or giant googly eyes popping out from the end of binoculars–all while your child’s face grins out from the page.
One thing that struck me though was how quiet this ebook is. No background music, no sound effects, and no one reading the story aloud…but me.
Though many iPad stories my kids love are meant to keep them entertained while I cook, clean or read Facebook updates (sorry, true), the JibJab ebooks are meant to be read to them. There is also no touch-screen features which helps keep them focused on the story itself and not on what the story can do.
And while I would’ve enjoyed a little background music, I had to admit that having my little guy snuggled next to me while I read the story out loud was exactly how I want a bedtime story to feel: Quiet and sweet, with plenty of laughs to end our day. -Christina
Check out Jib Jab Jr’s first free ebook The Biggest Pizza Ever. Additional titles can be purchased a la carte, or sign up for their one-book-a-month plan for only $3.99 a month.
