Auryn's Founder on Storytelling Opportunities

We heard from author-illustrator Sue Shanahan last month about her beautiful new app, Love You to the Moon and Back, from award-winning app producer Auryn. This week dotMomming features Umesh Shukla, founder and CEO of Auryn, to find out more about the app market, picture books, and children's literacy.

Kirkus Reviews calls the Auryn team "some of the best developers in the business." And through collaborations with legendary children's authors like Rosemary Wells, it is establishing itself as a serious player in the highly competitive children's app market. Readers who are not yet familiar with Auryn's books can get up to speed quickly this month as Auryn plans to give away a free picture book app every day in celebration of National Reading Month.

dotMomming: You have come out with some lovely apps based on print picture books, such as Don Freeman's stories (Hattie the Backstage Bat, Inspector Peckit), the Teddy books, and the Miko series. Can you explain how this model – creating enhanced, interactive books out of existing print books – is successful for an app producer?

Umesh Shukla: In any content business, working with an established brand always helps; even more, when a new format like the tablet comes along. We have been fortunate to have worked with numerous established brands. It has mutually benefited both us and these brands. While we get an opportunity to showcase our capabilities with the help of these brands, they get Auryn’s expertise in maintaining their brand value, while transforming their intellectual properties to a new medium.

DM: Do you see Auryn opening the door to original stories from new authors and illustrators? Why or why not?

US: Absolutely. Every new device presents some very unique, device-specific storytelling opportunities, and we are very keen to move in that direction with the right creative partners.

DM: Auryn is one of the first producers out of the starting gate. How has that worked in your favor? Now that the bigger houses such as Scholastic are entering into app-land, what does that mean for smaller independents such as Auryn?

US: It’s still an emerging field. We believe there is plenty of room for players both big and small. Having bigger players enter the field simply establishes the validity of the new format, and helps everyone involved in creating content for that medium.

DM: What type of books do you see Auryn creating – strictly picture books for young readers, or older interactive books for middle-schoolers, too? What do you hope to accomplish as a producer of enhanced books for kids?

US: Currently our focus is in picture books, as they allow us to showcase our patented rendering technology. But we are in the storytelling business and do plan to open ourselves to other genres in coming months/years.

DM: Can you speak to literacy learning? How do you see the uptake of books and learning changing for young readers as more classrooms open up to digital media? And where do picture book apps such as the ones Auryn produces fit in?

US: I am very excited by the emerging opportunities new devices offer in every kind of learning. School bags are going to get much lighter. Now abstract concepts can be presented in so many subtle and interesting ways to help a child grasp them better. The learning possibilities are enormous.

A small example of it would be the inclusion of pronunciation guides in our apps. While the child is reading the story, he or she can learn to relate the sound to the words. I think we are lucky to be working in a medium that is being defined and redefined everyday. We hope to play a big part in shaping its future.

Loud Crow's "Peter Rabbit" Tops Kirkus Reviews, and for Good Reason

Not long ago we wrote about Kirkus entering the world of app reviews. And not a moment too soon, when I think of the picture book stinkers now collecting dust on our iPad.

I recently downloaded the app ranked in the No. 1 position with Kirkus. It’s PopOut! The Tale of Peter Rabbit, by one Beatrix Potter. Even though I’m committed to my great-new-app-by-a-talented-new-author quest, I went ahead and queued up what Kirkus considered the best.

And whaddaya know? It is. Heads and shoulders, in fact, above any picture book app I’ve bought so far. Check out the video to see for yourself.

What makes Peter Rabbit such an enjoyable reading experience? The list is long.

First of all, it’s the British narration. Think Emma Thompson, but more Howards End than Nanny McPhee. The voice is smooth and gentle, which jibes perfectly with the clean, understated piano accompaniment.

I loved that the pages, when our iPad was turned to landscape, seemed to be the exact size as the real book in our hands. And the pop-out components were a terrific blending of old school and new: paper flap pullouts, spin wheels, and springy elements were planted on every page.

They were infinitely engaging, and my kindergartner recognized them immediately from traditional pop-up books. Pull on this flap, and Mr. McGregor blocks Peter's path. Turn this circle, and Flopsy, Mopsy, and Cotton-tail gobble up their supper.

What delighted Junior most of all were the unexpected new pop-up elements. The rabbits come across blackberry vines, and when we touched the simple watercolor image, the berries popped into realistic, true-to-size blackberries on the screen. We spent quite a while playing with the blackberries, gooseberries, and lovely fall leaves, piling them on different parts of the pages and bouncing them back and forth. When we spent too long away from the story, the blackberries squished beneath our fingers.

It was a gentle reminder that Peter was waiting.

Developed by Loud Crow Interactive, Peter Rabbit is for iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch. It was followed at the holidays by PopOut! The Night Before Christmas.

Loud Crow on Friday unveiled the first app in its new line based on Sandra Boynton's adorable board books. Stay tuned for our review of The Going to Bed Book app, which makes us anything but sleepy.

Kirkus Revs Its Discovery Engine for iPad

Kirkus Reviews, the curmudgeonly review journal that looks at more than 500 books each month, has moved into app-land. And not a moment too soon, when I consider some of the stinkers I've recently purchased in the iTunes store.

Last month Kirkus began reviewing picture book apps -- from tried-and-true classics to brand new titles created just for the iPad. About 50 apps are already reviewed on the site, and a Top 10 list highlights their faves. Also in the works, according to a press release, is a discovery engine for the iPad that will feature app demonstrations along with interviews with authors and developers.

"Parents will have the opportunity to hone their search by answering 5 quick questions about their child. Kirkus will then return a selection of book apps to match their child’s interest. The questions include gender, age, price range, visual interests, and interactive elements."

Think of it as your neighborhood children's bookseller, who has gotten to know you and your child's interests over the years, only now the chit-chat is cut a little short.

That Kirkus is venturing into this terrain is not all that surprising, as this is the future of reading. But that it is reviewing -- and giving stars -- to material that some diehards would not dare call "a book" does raise an eyebrow. Here's an excerpt from a starred review of Bartleby's Book of Buttons:

"Less a straight-ahead storybook than a combination of story and interactive puzzles, each page includes lighted buttons to press, keys and cranks to fiddle with."

The book app discovery engine, which will be available in March, is part of the journal's repositioning since its purchase last year. While some authors still smarting from scathing Kirkus reviews quietly cheered its seeming demise in late 2009, parents, teachers, and librarians who need help slogging through bookshelves (both the wooden kind and the digital ones) have a lot to be grateful about.

I hope to make good use of it. Now, if only I could take those stinkers I downloaded earlier this month and resell them at Powell's.