Review of PicPocket Books

Did you know the average child in the United States watches 3-4 hours of television every day? Time spent watching television can be entertaining but it can also lead to fewer books read and lower grades in school. (Statistics found at American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry)

I admit I too am guilty of turning on cartoons when I want my child to be busy for a short while. Thankfully I’ve found a fun and educational alternative!  As stated on the PicPocket Books homepage, this product offers a unique and new experience, combining the beauty of quality picture books with audio recordings and interactive visual text.  Additional PicPocket App features include:

• High fidelity, full-color illustrations that stay true to the original print book.

• High quality audio recording.

• Play-pause to start and stop the story at any time.

• Fast-forward and fast-back to replay images and audio.

• Stories downloadable directly to your device, anytime, anywhere, on-the-go.

• Buy it once, play it as many times as you want.

• Patent-pending technology.

It’s really easy to buy these! All you do is download the book you want (it’s an application so look under the apps section) from iTunes and synch your mobile device (iPhone, iPod or iPad) to install the books.  If you’re worried about finding books on iTunes the PicPocket website makes it really easy by including a link next to each book that will take you directly to the store site. Prices start at $1 each. What a great deal!

We really enjoyed reading the books given to us to review.  One of my daughters is an early reader and each day when she gets home from Kindergarten we spend most of our afternoons reading together. The feature that I felt was most helpful for her while using PicPocket Books was the text highlighting included in each story.

I love that this is great fun and educational for my child but as a busy mom on the go I especially like the mobility factor. My toddler is not one to sit quietly for any amount of time but now that I have these books on hand I have a great way to keep her entertained while at doctors’ offices or in the car.

Below is a quick video I made of my two youngest enjoying the book Best Friends Sleep Over by Jacqueline Rogers. By the way, my little one's dancing was completely spontaneous while my older daughter would hardly raise her eyes for fear of missing something.

PicPocket Books are available for purchase here or in the apps section of iTunes.

I did not receive any compensation for my review of PicPocket Books although I was given a book to facilitate this review.  Any and all opinions here are my own.