children apps

By analyzing a selection of classical and contemporary adaptations of children apps, the article questions the hypothesis of a poetics of hypermedia works, based on their main features: their composite textual materials, their reconstruction of the page, animations and interactivity.

The market for children apps is growing at a fast pace and already represents a considerable share of the global supply, both in term of downloads and distribution (See figures and reports on appfigures.com). Despite the relative paucity of literature on games and edutainment, the variety of contents available is wide and includes adaptations of classic and contemporary texts, as well as original contents specifically conceived for digital environments. Our contribution aims to consider a sample of this rich production, especially focusing on a corpus of adaptations of classic and contemporary children picturebooks, selected for their large panel of literary-significant multimodal [KRESS 2010 ; LEBRUN – LACELLE – BOUTIN 2012] and hypermedia elements [BOLTER – GRUSIN 2000]. “

(Source: Abstract ICDMT 2016)

E-books for kids are one of the few areas in which commercial publishers are creating innovative literary works for tablets and smartphones, but most of the apps available do not explore the rich traditions of electronic literature, instead opting for a more linear “enhanced book” approach that strongly borrows from the tradition of picture books and in particular pop-up books. Scholarship on and criticism of children's’ book apps tends to be in the fields of literacy studies andchildren's literature rather than in the field of electronic literature, and this paper aims to bring the two domains together, looking at picture book apps aimed at young children.

Early childrens’ electronic fiction, such as Amanda Goodenough’s Amanda Stories which was published on CDROM by Voyager in 1991, was well known in hypertext literature circles, and the novelty of being able to click on pictures and have the computer respond is still be a dominant trope of current book apps. Many apps use the added possibilities of modern tablets - Atomic Antelope’s 2010 iPad adaptation of Alice in Wonderland famously allows readers to tilt the tablet to make Alice grow and shrink - but the simple click-response structure generally remains firmly linear. Mo Willems' Don’t Let the Pigeon Run This App (Disney 2011) is a rare example of combinatory fiction for children. The app builds on Willems’ children’s book series that is scripted around a set formula: the pigeon wants to do something and must not be allowed to do it. In the app, the child reader either supplies words that are woven into the story or shakes the phone or tablet to create a random story. I will discuss a variety of examples ofchildren's book apps, particularly emphasising those that go beyond the linear pop-up book style of interactivity.

If narratives are important in shaping our understanding of the world, it is very interesting to see to what extent children are being exposed (and thus taught the structure of) non-linear or combinatory narratives. Clearly children are learning to use game structures to interpret and re-tell their experiences, but can the more experimental forms of narrative we know from adult electronic literature work inchildren's literature? What might these works look like?

(Source: Author's Description)

In a relatively short time, apps have become highly popular as a platform for children’s fiction. The majority of media attention to these apps has focused on their technical features. There has been less focus on their aesthetic aspects, such as how interactive elements, visual-verbal arrangements and narration are interrelated. This article investigates how a reading of a «picturebook app» may differ from readings of the narratives found in printed books and movies. The discussion will be anchored in an analysis of the iPad app The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore. This app, which is an adaptation of an animated short film, relates the story of a book lover who becomes the proprietor of a magical library.