App Review: Boomer's Birthday Surprise by AlphaJade

Boomer's Birthday Surprise is the first in a series of  upcoming interactive story books from AlphaJade based on the Cheg and Boomer (@ChegandBoomer) characters. Best friends, Cheg and Boomer, are cute dinosaur-like characters, and we know how much kids love dinosaurs! 

In this story, it's Boomer's birthday, and he wants to play. Boomer visits several of his friends, but they are too busy to play because of the upcoming Lollipop Concert. Or at least, that's what Boomer thinks -- until he discovers his friends have been planning a surprise birthday party the entire time.

This book is great for pre-readers and very young readers as it is narrated. On each page, readers can listen to the story and match objects in the interactive picture with a list of items on the left-hand side of the page. Interactive elements of the story book are activated when a reader taps on one of the objects listed. (My personal favorite was the little lady bug that shows up on several pages). 

Readers can match objects in the picture to the items shown on the left. 

I recommend this app to parents of pre-schoolers as well as early childhood teachers for promoting early literacy. I also think it would be beneficial to English Language Learners at the elementary level. The app costs $0.99 from the iTunes store. More information about the app can be found in the iTunes preview. 

How to Best Utilize This App:

If you are working with pre-readers or English Language Learners, remind them that good readers often have to read more than once in order to understand the message. Encourage children to try reading along with the story after they have completed it at least once. This would be particularly helpful after introducing sight words that appear in the interactive story. 

Video Promo for Boomer's Birthday Surprise by AlphaJade