Three Little Pigs iPad App Presents Pop-Up Book Of The Future (VIDEO)

With the release of the NOOKcolor, Barnes and Noble staked out their claim in the children's books market. But Apple won't let the iPad cede its share of kids' hearts quite so easily.

A new app based on the story 'The Three Little Pigs' melds the best of both digital and paper in a totally new-fangled take on the pop-up book. The Three Little Pigs and the Secrets of a Pop-Up Book combines the tactile beauty of the traditional pop-up book with the technological capacities of the iPad. While utilizing the handmade gorgeousness of line-drawn illustration characteristic of classic picture books, the vivid high-color display on the iPad perfectly captures more photorealistic touches.

But the most incredible part of the experience is, as in low-fi pop-up books, the interactive element. This 'Three Little Pigs' has the same swinging cut-outs and springy moveable parts as the paper version, but it also has sound effects, and, most impressively, a feature that reveals how the pop-ups are constructed.

Clicking on the little glasses in the corner of the screen lets you see an 'x-ray' view of the picture, showing you exactly how the sliding mechanisms and swinging pieces are made from wheels, pulleys, strings and bars. That's definitely something you would never be able to do in paper alone.

Check it out below, and let us know what you think!

WATCH:

Comments

[VintageMary]

03:30 AM on 01/15/2011

I have misgivings about digital books, but even I have to admit this is just lovely. If I hd a digital reader, Id certainly purchase this.

[Tom95134]

02:09 PM on 12/20/2010

A NAKED PIG! Isn't that pornographic?

[Andrew Shaffer]

10:48 PM on 12/20/2010

Don't worry--some Florida sheriff will be all over this.

[Toonguy]

10:30 AM on 12/20/2010

Nearly two decades ago, Broderbund made waves with their "Living Books" - children's stories that took advantage of a new medium (CD storage) to create a whole new kind of interactive entertainment. But suddenly someone painstakingly recreates a pop-up book with all of the cams and sliders of the real world counterpart and it's like the Living Books never existed. I'm really surprised that no one realized this could be done before. Give me a contract, I'll make you a bucketful of them.

[mauilibrarian2]

02:41 PM on 12/19/2010

Dazzling and perfect for the visual learner. There's no doubt that this hi-fi pop-up offers more in the way of knowledge (the x-ray view).
But what about the kinesthetic learner (aren't all toddlers kinesthetic learners)?
A toddler can control the speed of a lo-fi pop-up book, look at it from different angles, finger-read at his/her own pace minus the danger of setting off a distracting effect, i.e., use different parts of his/her brain to make as many connections as possible as he/she explores. There are other advantages that a child development specialist could enumerate more articulately, I'm sure.
This would be a spectacular *additional* experience, not a replacement. It's all about making connections, and the more connections the better, IMO.
Maybe I'll ask my child psychologist friend Heather what she thinks ...

[mauilibrarian2]

05:34 PM on 12/19/2010

Here's Dr. Heather's response. http://babyshrink.com/2010/03/pros-and-cons-of-high-tech-toys-for-young-children.html Sound advice about balance and moderation.

[BabyShrink]

10:36 PM on 12/19/2010

Thanks, Linda! TV and high-tech aren't nearly the demon-gadgets we're told they are -- as long as parents have common sense about their use. Now, do little kids NEED this stuff? Not a chance. I detest it when parents start to follow trendy "must-have" lists for little kids. But if it makes life easier for the parents -- once in awhile -- why not? We can't keep our kids away from technology. Aloha, all!

[Matt Hillier]

07:08 PM on 12/18/2010

Well now I'm sold :p

[argent1]

11:04 AM on 12/18/2010

Wish the version of the burning yule log could really warm up the apartment here.

[Chauncey Love]

10:28 AM on 12/18/2010

I'll stick with a Kindle so I can read outside and have exceptional battery life.

Excellent for ADD kids who don't want to go outside or read for long, though.

[BushSmahers]

01:05 PM on 12/18/2010

10 hours battery life is exceptional for a device such as an iPad. How long do you you think a kid should read per day??? A kindle does one thing, for ferocious readers. But it does nothing else. The iPad is fine in the shade and your doctor would tell you not to sit in the sun and read all day. So you stick with your Kindle, along with your Windows XP, Yugo, and tube TV.

[Chauncey Love]

01:23 PM on 12/19/2010

Clearly you have no kids. Kids lose things. Things like chargers. And break things that ought not to be breakable. Things like chargers. I could have a Kindle on non-stop, order a replacement at slow shipping, and have it arrive before the Kindle loses power.

I don't buy an e-reader because I want to do anything else but read. For those other things I have a laptop and a smartphone. They both function better than an Ipad.

"The iPad is fine in the shade"

Yeah. What if I want to enjoy the sun again? Oh yeah I should have to conform to the limitations of the e-reader. Yeah that's convenience. I hope you're getting paid for your shill because it's embarrassing to you if you're not. Keep reading on a device not meant for reading. Because doing things wrong is just so hip and happening as long as an Apple badge is on it.

[eric14]

07:56 AM on 12/18/2010

That was much better than I thought it would be.

[Onutz]

11:45 PM on 12/17/2010

iHaters can tout the merits of iClones all day long, but this exists because of Apple, plain

[planetmango]

06:37 PM on 12/17/2010

Creativity off the chart. Brilliant~!!

[curiousasheck]

05:05 PM on 12/17/2010

Perfect gift for the 20 somethings get them caught up on classic literature.

[moose and squirrel]

03:23 PM on 12/17/2010

thats very cute.  what kind of software do you need to create the animations and the music?

[Read AloudDad]

01:50 PM on 12/17/2010

Amazing.

Astounding.

Read Aloud Dad

www.ReadAloudDad.com

[crispee]

11:39 AM on 12/17/2010

The apps this December has brought have been awesome.

[MarkOates]

11:33 AM on 12/17/2010

That's a good app ad.