Reading Rainbow (for iPad)

Reading Rainbow (free to download, $9.99 per month) is an updated, interactive version of the beloved children's television show, with kids engaging with books directly on their iPad. Kids can tap through a library of books and either read the story themselves or have the app read the story aloud. The illustrations have been enhanced with cute little animations and each book comes with a game. Kids are also rewarded with "stickers" each time they finish a new book. The Reading Rainbow app for the iPad does what the television show did successfully for 26 years: grab the kids' attention with beautiful illustrations and get them reading.

Parents who grew up watching the show on PBS until its abrupt cancellation in 2009 would recognize the familiar rainbow logo and the host, LeVar Burton. Burton is back as the host and the main narrator in the app. The TV show interspersed clips of Burton going on "field trips" and talking about an unusual location, such as the ship's cargo area, in between stories. The iPad version brings clips from the original show back, as kids can choose between books and Burton's videos.

Reading Rainbow is listed under the Education category in the iTunes App Store and the app is free to download. Kids get access to one book for free after installing the app. Additional books require a subscription, at $9.99 a month or $29.99 for six months. The subscription is for unlimited access, so kids can grab as many books as they want for that same price. There didn't seem to be any such restriction on the video clips.

The brand name is not going to mean much to younger kids, but it will strike a chord with the parents (I plead guilty!) who will be the ones paying for the monthly subscription. Reading Rainbow is an easy pick as an Editors' Choice as an educational app.

How We Reviewed the App
The app targets kids aged four to nine so I decided to include my sons in the review. I downloaded and installed the app and handed the iPad2 over to my six year old, who already knew how to read. After he went through the app, I uninstalled and re-installed again (with another Apple ID) to give his younger brother, almost four, a chance to play. The four year old knows his letters and the sounds letters make but is not yet reading. They were both absorbed with the beautiful illustrations and easy controls, and complained loudly when I reclaimed the tablet to check out the app myself.

The first time it runs, the app plays a video of Burton describing the app's goals and how kids can use it. The video is clearly aimed for the parents, but there's no way to skip the clip other than fast-forwarding through it. Right after that infomercial, kids are encouraged to "register" by creating their profiles. After creating a profile, the kids go through a quick interactive tutorial to learn how to use the interface. The Reading Child was a little frustrated at how long he had to wait before he could really get started with a book. I learned my lesson and ran the app once to get past that initial video when it was Pre-Reading Child's turn.

The Book Islands
The books are categorized by theme, such as "Action Adventures & Magical Tales," "Genius Academy," "Animal Kingdom," and "My Friends Family." Visually, they are represented as floating islands in the sky. The boys swiped through the sky to browse through the various islands before tapping on one to select the category. It was easy for non-readers to figure out some of the categories by just looking at the pictures. For example, the Animal Kingdom island was an island overflowing with giraffes, lions, a zebra, and an elephant.

Once the boys selected the island, the interface opened up as a book shelf, filled with books. The same books can appear across multiple categories. After the boys selected a title, the interface changed to look like a page in an old book (with yellowed pages?a nice visual touch) displaying a short description of the book and a prompt to confirm the selection. Reading Child had no problem selecting "yes" or "no" after reading the description, but Pre-Reading Child wanted to know why we had to confirm again when we'd already picked out the book.

The theme song on the show may have been, "Butterfly in the sky, I can go twice as high," but the app uses hot air balloons for its theme, as they are all over the place.

The Personalized Companion
When the boys started the app, they registered with their names, ages, and gender, and then picked out three topics they liked (wizards & fairies, sports, ocean adventures, things that go, princes and princesses, space & beyond, travel & adventure, animals, and pirates). The registration process also asked for the parents' email address, which I didn't let the kids enter. If I'd entered the email address, the app would have automatically opted me into receiving updates and other information by email. I dislike apps and sites that assume opt-in; I would have preferred the box to be unchecked. I had the option to subscribe, or start the free trial.

I couldn't figure out a way to have multiple profiles, so that Reading Child and Pre-Reading Child could enter their own names and category preferences. For the review, they entered their own names and put in their own interests for each instance that I installed. In a real situation, I would have probably combined their names during the profile selection, and had them agree on which topics to pre-select, to "share" the profile. Considering the effort the app made to "customize" the experience for the child, the one-size-for-all-siblings felt a little odd. It would be an issue if there was an age gap between siblings, as well, since the book recommendations are age-based.

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