A gorgeous alphabet app for kids from the good old days. No, not 1997.

I love books. I also love lovers of books. And I particularly love book lovers who aren't too "precious" to also enjoy a little modern technology for their books, (all hail Kindles and iPads). Such is the case with this small new company with a mission to bring some of the wonderful children's books of the 19th and early 20th centuries to a new generation of readers through tablet technology.

 

The company kandelsmith, otherwise known as Rita Smith and her daughter Rachel, has just launched with two new apps, the beautifully designed if plainly named ABCs Volume 1 and 2.

Volume 1 consists of two alphabet books from historical children's literature, Baseball ABCs (1885) and Elton's Pictorial (1848). Volume 2 has Funny Zoological ABCs (1873) and Child's Treasury of Knowledge (1860). The volumes are beautifully retouched, quite vibrant on the iPad interface, and stir up all your parental nostalgia (not that any of us were actually around in the 19th century, but still).


Also be aware that Volume 2 uses words like queer (meaning "odd") for Q, or referring to donkeys as asses. Personally, I think that's a good learning opp to talk to older kids about how language has changed, the way you do when you read classic books to them from earlier generations.

To call the apps "interactive" however is a bit of a stretch--the only real interaction is choosing the "Read to Me" option as opposed to reading it yourself, or the "Press and Hear Objects" where you press an object to hear its name.
But if you have very young children who will be charmed by the lovely pictures and quirky rhymes, and will press a picture of a ball a hundred times just to hear someone say ball, then the kandelsmith apps are a worthy investment. - Shari

Purchase kandelsmith's ABCs Volume 1 and Volume 2 on iTunes fr $1.99 each.

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