The Berenstain Bears Review

Since announcing its magical tablet, Apple has attempted to position the iPad as the future of publishing. While iBooks, Kindle, and Inkling have let us glimpse a world of grown-up tomes without physical pages, none of them capitalize on the sense of wonder and discovery that accompany a child’s first journey through a great book. Oceanhouse Media’s series of Berenstain Bears e-book apps seeks do just that, and it successfully brings the beloved ursine family into the 21st century.

There are currently three Berenstain titles available in the App Store: The Berenstain Bears and the Golden Rule, The Berenstain Bears Go To Sunday School, and The Berenstain Bears Say Their Prayers. With over 300 different bear titles in print, one hopes that the publisher will expand its scope to include a more representative sampling. For now, though, there is a sufficient amount of edutainment to be had.

Luckily, the apps' degree of wholesomeness is matched by its level of execution. Oceanhouse has mimicked the look and feel of its delightful Dr. Seuss ebooks, and the formula continues to work beautifully. Each book has three play modes: Read to Me, Read It Myself, and Auto Play. In Read to Me mode, a narrator reads the text aloud, but progress through the book is self-paced, and you can linger on a page for as long as you like. Read it Myself mode dispenses with the narration and is also self-paced. Finally, Auto Play gives you narration and automatically turns the pages--ideal for times when a child might be reading the book on his or her own. As a useful added feature, the app highlights each word as it is read in both Auto Play and Read to Me modes.

In order to appreciate the apps' full experience, I asked a certain three-year-old I know to join me for a read-through of The Berenstain Bears and the Golden Rule. Once he saw the opening animation of a school bus pulling up to its stop, he eagerly agreed. As we delved into the story, it became clear that my reading companion was just as tickled by the book’s presentation as I was. He would make thrilled gasps and coos whenever the app would zoom out to reveal larger sections of an illustration. He also clapped his hands excitedly and grinned widely when he discovered that he could tap on different sections of an illustration to generate a pop-up label of the item being touched, as well as a voice-over.

The publishers have furthered the immersive experience of the apps by including excellent voice narration, sound effects, and music, much to the pleasure of my tiny friend, who turned to me, at one point, to report, “See? A school bus goes ‘Vroom’!” While the quality of the voice acting is not quite as versatile as that in the Seuss books, it is still well done. Additionally, the background music is pleasant and atmospheric, without being intrusive.

Ultimately, the Berenstain Bears ebooks, like their Seuss predecessors, are exemplars of the iPad’s potential as a tool of education and entertainment. They provide a unique and enjoyable reading experience for any child and a welcome dose of nostalgia for any adult of a certain age. I could continue to write about the fluidity of the apps' page turns, the excellent readability of the text, or the attractiveness of the eBook’s price ($2.99), but the most compelling recommendation came from the toddler sitting next to me. When we finished reading, he turned to me and, with a giant smile on his face, declared, “That was a special book. Let’s read it again!”