A New Little Critter Digital Book from Oceanhouse Media!

4:54 PM Posted by Desi @ Wee Share

The New Baby

Written by: Mercer Mayer

Available for: iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch

About this Digital Book (as taken from the Oceanhouse Media website)

As the story unfolds our funny young hero, Little Critter, has to get used to a new baby sister. This is a problem as the baby doesn't pay attention when he reads to her. She always cries when he makes silly faces and she can't understand the jokes he tells. It seems like an impossible task, but Little Critter finally figures out what you CAN do with a new baby, and in the process becomes a very good brother! Mercer Mayer's Little Critter stories, which address all the major issues of growing up, are perennial favorites of parents and children.

Our Thoughts

We are not expecting any little ones in our house again anytime soon (well, we aren't really trying to have any more kids at all). However, I know that many of you are expecting right now, and some of Raileigh's friends have recently became a big brother or sister. Plus, I have loved Mercer Mayer stories for years. So, that is why I am thrilled to tell you about a digital book we recently reviewed- The New Baby by Mercer Mayer.

This digital book can be read three ways:

"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!

We have used the "auto play" feature a lot with this book. This way, when we ride in the car, Raileigh can enjoy being "read" to. Since the pages turn automatically (and make a really cute page turn sound), it is easy for her to follow along with. The first time we used "auto play", I was a bit surprised when she started telling me it was done a few moments later. Then, I remembered that the Mercer Mayer stories do tend to be quite short.

So, I have also used the book with Raileigh in a different way. I will activate "Read to Myself", but I will actually read it aloud to her. This way, I can ask questions about comprehension or the illustrations and make sure she is really understanding the story. Plus, if she touches the pictures, the word associated with the picture will zoom up and it is spoken aloud. This is a great introduction to reading for her!

In addition to the digital book, this app comes with a find the creature mini-game. This little game is a lot of fun and Raileigh really enjoyed playing it. It helps to teach her to really pay attention to the details in pictures as it is kind of like an easier Where's Waldo using Little Critter.

In addition to this digital book, there are several others available from Oceanhouse Media as well:

I cannot wait to check those out as well.

So, if you are expecting a little one soon, or just want to share a cute story with your child, I recommend the The New Baby by Mercer Mayer. At just $1.99, it is a very affordable way to teach your child what having a new baby around will be like.

No monetary compensation was received for this post. A promo code to download this digital book was sent to me for review. All opinions expressed above are my own.