Disney Storybooks – A Twist on Bedtime Reading!

by Lori Cunningham

As some of my long-time readers can attest to, I’m a big fan of eBooks:  Kids Online eBooks:  Don’t Overlook their Importance.   However, in no way do I believe eBooks should replace a physical book.  I’m a big proponent of reading to your children as soon as possible; having a physical book and cuddled closeness is the key to a child falling in love with reading.  However, as your child gets older, throwing in an eBook (whether from online, your smartphone,

or a tablet) is a great way to add extra fun and variety to your bedtime routine.

While at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) this year, I had the opportunity to see Disney’s line of Disney Digital Books.

Months later they sent me some codes to try out a couple of their books.  I chose the Toy Story 3 and TRON Legacy iPad apps.  My son is a big Toy Story 3 fan and awhile back, I wrote a brief synopsis of TRON: Legacy, the movie, along with an USB giveaway, so I wanted to see how the TRON eBook played out.

Toy Story 3

Disney toy Story 3 eBook page

I love the graphics in the Toy Story 3 eBook*.  They are full of color and are identical to the movie.  In fact, the voiceovers sound

just like the stars from the movie.  It was such a delight to show my kids the Toy Story 3 eBook.  Their eyes lit up and they couldn’t wait to get started.  Some of the pages had interaction such as the ability to paint a picture, play games, put together a puzzle, and even view 3D pictures.

Since I downloaded the program from iTunes, I didn’t receive a pair of 3D glasses, but I was told I could go to any physical Disney Store to receive a free pair.  Fortunately, we already had a couple pairs at home.  The still-picture 3D effects were less than stimulating to me, but my kids seemed to enjoy them.

As the book reads to you, various activities present themselves.  It’s a fun break from the book and is related to the page you’ve been reading.  You also have the option to jump to any of the puzzles, games, songs, paint scenes, or 3D pictures from the main menu.

With further investigation, I noticed that you could record your voice to any or all the pages that you’d like.  How cool is that?  Now granted, the original Disney voices are cooler than mine, but I can see the value in this for the parent who is traveling away on business and wants to leave a “piece” of themselves for their children at home.  Or for the child who is thrilled to hear their own voice, they can now record it and listen to it over and over again!

TRON: Legacy The Complete Story

The TRON Legacy eBook* was quite a bit different from the Toy Story 3 eBook, since it’s oriented towards teenagers and adults.  In this book, you need to read the “book” yourself — no one reads it for you.  The words are smaller and the cartoon renderings are more realistic.  A navigational film strip is available to guide you through the story or allow you to jump around.  Having never seen the movie before, I was excited to get started, though I wasn’t sure whether my kids would “get it.”  My children were enthralled.  It took us 3 nights to read through the book.  TRON Legacy had 150 pages of realistic, sci-fi pictures.  In addition, many of the “pages’ of the book have a “Photo” button that when clicked, show actual pictures clipped from the movie.

In the background, you can hear a portion of the theme from TRON play as you read.  The music added to the suspense and the kids loved it.  We made sure we turned out all the lights as we watched the eBook on the iPad 2.  It was an interesting story and the kids were able connect with the main character in the video game, though I’m sure they would have preferred the video game be Mario Brothers or Viva Pinata!  Nonetheless, they enjoyed the book and each night would ask me when we could read it.

I felt comfortable reading the book to them because although some of the concepts were above their heads, I knew that Disney Digital wouldn’t have anything offensive in the eBook.  I didn’t want to show them the movie, as it’s rated PG due to violence and “brief mild language,” as the movie states!

The eBook also includes two songs from the TRON: Legacy movie, a slide show of photos from the movie,  and Episode One Motion Comics which depicts the story in animated cartoons complete with voices from the film.  It’s very well done, but unfortunately, only Episode One is complete.   There’s a notice that Episodes 2-6 are “coming soon.”

The Toy Story 3 iPad app is available for $8.99 in the iTunes Store.  However, the original Toy Story is currently free in the iTunes Store.  TRON: Legacy The Complete Story App sells in iTunes for just $3.99 (instead of $8.99) for a limited time only.

What are your favorite eBooks for your tablet or smartphone?

*Disney Publishing provided me with the Toy Story 3 and TRON story books in exchange for my honest opinion.