Dr. Seuss takes over the app market. How very 2011.

I know there's a lot of debate among our readers about the viability of apps and electronic media for teaching preschoolers to read. As a writer, I love books. Adore turning real pages and feeling real paper and having the knowledge that I don't need a power source to pick up where I left off. But as a mom, I also feel like reading is reading. And if some of the new technology can get my kids even more excited about it, then high-five for technology.

That's why I was am happy to see an amazing range of Dr. Seuss interactive books for iPad from Oceanhouse Media. But the only one even happier than I am, are my kids.

 

Download the free lite version of titles like The Cat in the Hat and Green Eggs and Ham and you'll get a ten-page taste of how wonderfully produced and developed these apps are. Kids can either read the books like real books, have the stories read aloud while each spoken word is highlighted, or you can let it run like a movie using autoplay, for young kids who can't yet manipulate the pages by themselves.

They all make excellent use of interactivity with a feature that allows a kid to easily touch pictures and words to hear them spoken, or touch a picture and have the corresponding word zoom in. Plus the pages look gorgeous and the narration is very nicely done. (Even if it's not Boris Karloff reading The Grinch.)

I assure you, you're going to want to buy the full versions. At $3.99, these books are a great value. I mean, my kids are fighting over it. Fighting over books! Music to a writer's ear. -Liz

Find 19 different Dr. Seuss interactive books for iPhone, iPad, iPhone Touch and Android, including The Cat in the Hat, the brand new Fox in Sox and my favorite, The Lorax. They're all available from Oceanhouse Media, the iTunes Store, or Android Market.

Find More: Apps apps and more apps, Apps for kids, Educational!, Preschoolers and Little Kids