*Comment below to enter for a free iPhone book title! 3 winners will be selected at random.org after December 20th.
Mommy Perks is pleased to bring you this interview with PicPocket Books.
*This giveaway is now CLOSED. Comments 5, 8 and 6 were selected at random.org. Congrats and enjoy!
Those of you who know me know that I own Mommy Perks as well as Personal Child Stories. You see me post and tweet every so often about the importance of real books, giving our children that experience, reading together and alone, feeling the turn of pages between our fingers, etc.
So why am I promoting PicPocket Books? It’s my belief that all kinds of ideas can benefit our world – no “one way” is necessarily the right way or the only way. Some children may learn well from iPhone books and books on tape and I’m a firm believer that no two children are created identical. Each one is as unique and different as their DNA and fingerprints.
Sooo – who am I to deprive an iPhone love’n child the joys of PicPocket Books?
On with the show!
1. What is your business:
PicPocket Books publishes children’s picture books to the iPhone as downloadable apps. We currently have 17 titles available on iTunes and more coming soon.
2. Why did you start this up?
When I first encountered audio children’s books on my husband’s iPhone, I realized something was missing: illustrations. You could hear about Curious George riding a bike, but you couldn’t see him. That’s how I came up with the idea for the iPhone application PicPocket Books. I have a real love of literature, especially children’s lit with the marriage of text and illustrations. PicPocket Books recreates the experience of reading a printed children’s book aloud, complete with audio, color illustrations, and automatic page-turning.
I don’t see PicPocket Books as replacements for print books or the valuable time parents can spend reading to their children, but as educational and culturally valuable alternatives to video games or movies, especially for families on-the-go. You get the same educational benefits as reading a paper book, and children increase their focus and vocabulary. One satisfied parent told me, “It’s the first time I haven’t felt guilty about handing my iPhone to my kid.”
3. Who is your market/demographic?
Parents, particularly moms, who allow their children to use their iPhones and iPod to keep them occupied for short periods while on the go (eg. doctors’ offices, running errands, while traveling, etc.)
4. What is something that makes your business unique and/or sets you apart?
PicPocket Books help children towards literacy because most kids are very curious about electronic gadgets. Why not capitalize on that fascination to grab their initial interest? Whether we’re talking print or digital books, reading is an active mental process: something to encourage at every opportunity. Our apps offer a “learn-to-read” feature where the text is highlighted as the word is spoken, encouraging the connection between the written and spoken word for emergent readers.
Many families are short on time and e-books can be read any time, any place. I believe that if reading picture books on the iPhone means that more families are reading together and more kids have more exposure to storybooks, then they are a great option for tech-savvy families of today.
5. What giveaway are you offering our readers/members?
A promo code to THREE winners for any PicPocket Book title: reader’s choice.
6. Are you open to others contacting you for reviews on their own blogs or sites?
Do you mean for others to review PicPocket Books on their own blogs, or that I would review their blogs and sites on the PicPocket Books blog? The answer is “yes” either way, but my blog sticks to themes of books, literacy, technology and education, etc.
7. Contact info
Lynette Mattke
PicPocket Books
www.picpocketbooks.com
lmattke@picpocketbooks.com


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Sounds like a great idea!!
My son would love this!