Tacky and the Winter Games... Now Available as a Digital Book! (Review & Giveaway)- CLOSED

If you have young children that love to read, then you are most likely familiar with Tacky the Penguin. This lovable, yet silly penguin is favorite of many little ones. I was thrilled when Oceanhouse Media began the collaboration to bring Tacky's tales to digital book format.

Recently, the third Tacky the Penguin omBook (Oceanhouse Media Digital Book) was released. It is entitled Tacky and the Winter Games.

Here is a bit more about this title: (as taken from the Oceanhouse Media website)


Tacky and the Winter Games

Written by: Helen Lester

Available for: iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch

Tacky and his penguin friends, Goodly, Lovely, Angel, Neatly, and Perfect are training to represent the Nice Icey Land in the Winter Games. While the team Huffs- and-a-Puffs their way through their workouts, Tacky trains for the competition in his own unique style. As the games begin, Tacky and his friends find clever ways to compete, like riding Tacky down the hill in the Bobsledless race. The judges however, are not impressed. Will Tacky's clownish and clumsy behavior cost them the "BIG WINNER" medal? Or could Tacky be their secret to success?

We have had the opportunity to check out this exciting new omBook, and let me just say that we LOVE it! The pages of the digital book feature enlarged artwork from the actual pages of the print copy. Additionally, the pages pan and zoom so that you can really see and enjoy the beautiful illustrations.

There are three ways in which this book can be read:

• "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!

The first time that Raileigh and I read this book, we were snuggling up in the chair for a morning of stories. I chose "Read it Myself" so that I could act as the narrator and share the story with her. We talked about what she saw in each picture and all of the trouble Tacky got into. If she didn't know what something was within an illustration, we used the Picture/ Word Association feature. This allows you to touch a picture and hear the word associated with it. The word will also float onto the screen so that you can see it in print as well. This is a wonderful feature to help increase vocabulary.

We were able to predict a lot as well. Tacky and his team wanted to win the big medal. I would ask Raileigh at each event during the Winter Games how she thought Tacky would do. It was a good opportunity to teach her about using the illustrations to make educated guesses, as well as foreshadowing.

Raileigh also enjoys the "Auto Play" feature. If we are in the car or I am doing housework, I can give Raileigh the story set to "Auto Play" and it is read to her. As the narrator reads the story, the text is highlighted. I think this is an invaluable feature for young readers.

We have thoroughly enjoyed Tacky and the Winter Games. I cannot wait to check out the first two Tacky the Penguin titles from Oceanhouse Media:

• Tacky the Penguin
• Tacky's Christmas
  

I am very excited today because I have something special to share with you. After I received a code to reveiw this wonderful omBook, I won an additional code at the Oceanhouse Media twitter party last week. So, I would like to share this code with one of you so that you can enjoy Tacky and the Winter Games as well!

Here's how to enter:

Mandatory Entry (Must be done before any extra entries will qualify)

Head on over to Oceanhouse Media. Let me know the title of another app that catches your attention.

Extra Entries (Please leave a separate comment for each entry)

• Like Oceanhouse Media on Facebook
• Follow Oceanhouse Media on twitter
• Join the Oceanhouse Media email list
  

Please visit the Extra Giveaway Entries page for even more ways to gain extra entries into this giveaway!

Giveaway is open to US Only. Giveaway will close May 13, 2011 at 11:59 pm EST.

No monetary compensation was received for this post. I received a promo code for the app to facilitate my review. All opinions expressed above are my own.