The Walt Disney Company’s DigitalBooks division has released two new “storybook apps” for children and parents, each of which offer new perspective and interaction with a classic Disney animated film, in this case the 1994 film The Lion King and the more recent 2010 hit Tangled, based on the fairy tale of Rapunzel. Both books feature a wide range of animated clips from the films and interactive activities.
The Lion King: Timon’s Tale ($5) shows the hit 1994 movie from the point of view of Timon, the meerkat who befriends the self-exiled Simba. Clips from the film are incorporated into the text of the story and the book is aimed at younger readers with lots of interactive activities, such as drawing or treasure-hunting with characters from the film.
The Tangled: Storybook Deluxe app ($7) is somewhat less animated and more a straightforward retelling of the film, but also has various interactive features, including a voice-recording mode that lets readers use their own voice for narration, along with a matching-lanterns mini-game. Both apps are designed for iOS 4 or later and scale for the iPad as well as working on the iPhone 3GS and later models or the third-generation iPod Touch or later versions.
