There are often arguments between supporters of traditional books and those who prefer modern gadgets - which is better for children. Therefore, some publishers in Ukraine have thought about and combined these two ideas, starting to publish interactive books. Below you can get acquainted with some of them, to try and form your own opinion on this matter.
1. Fascinating "Gagetarium" from Gutenbergz Publishing House, Odessa
This application, which has an interactive popular science character, was developed by the famous Odessa publishing house Gutenbergz. The pilot project in it is an interactive “Sherlock Holmes”. Then the developers collected the necessary funds on the Kickstarter platform and created their own guide for children, which will guide them through the world of devices. This application will show children 23 gadgets that were invented in the period from 5000 BC to 2013. The Ukrainian-language application is free. The printed version was planned for publication together with the publishing house “A-BA-BA-GA-LA-MA-GA”, but now the project is suspended: perhaps the manufacturers will return to this idea, but not earlier than next year.
Gutenbergz Publishing House also plans to delight its readers with electronic textbooks that will have interactive multimedia content adapted for high school. Today, schoolchildren already have one such interactive textbook, which tells about the history of Odessa.
The co-founder of this Ukrainian company, Volodymyr Usov, reports that there are quite likely chances of developing a complete set of textbooks aimed at high school students, starting from the next academic year. However, unfortunately, only students in the city of Odessa will be able to receive it, because the publishing house currently cooperates only with the Odessa Department of Education.
2. "The Snow Queen" from the publishing house "A-BA-BA-GA-LA-MA-GA", Kyiv
The children's book "The Snow Queen" from the Kyiv publishing house "A-BA-BA-GA-LA-MA-GA" has become perhaps the most famous book in the field of Ukrainian publishing, and in the world in general. And all this became possible thanks to the extremely beautiful illustrations of Vladyslav Yerko. The interactive version of the famous book was published back in 2012. In it, you can blow on the fire in the fireplace, shake snow off the trees, see your face in the troll's mirror, find objects that are lost among the pages of the book and much more interesting things.
The book can be read in three languages – Ukrainian, English, and Russian. The formats are different, some are available for free.
3. "Mom's Coming Home" by Glowberry Books
The paper version of the book has long won the hearts and a place on the shelves of its owners' homes. Now the interactive version of Svitlana Dorosheva's book should also be distributed to new homes, because it has original illustrations by artist Olga Degtyareva, and can easily be found on the multimedia devices of working mothers.
What is this book about? It tells in a witty and rather unexpected way, against the backdrop of urban buildings and circumstances, about a mother who is rushing home from work to her baby. Why is this connected with such problems? Is it that all the locks in the house suddenly stop working, and therefore she cannot get to the baby as quickly as she wants? Has there been a rebellion of cars, so she does not have time to get home? This mother, who overcomes all urban intersections, for the first time in Ukrainian children's literature appears in the role of a superheroine who, in order to get to her baby, is even able to tame a dragon.
A working mother, a child who constantly stays with a nanny - these are very modern and valuable images, the purpose of which is to show an alternative life to maternity leave.
4. "Come Visit" from Glowberry Books
This application is trilingual (also in Ukrainian, Russian, and English), and is based on the stories "Books-Eats", created by Olga Cherepanova and Katya Galitskaya. The illustrations for the book are drawn by Olga Degtyareva.
The plot is very popular: a mother teaches her little daughter how to cook simple dishes - porridge, a sandwich, scrambled eggs, etc. How to properly seat guests, how to cope with a refrigerator, gas stove and other household kitchen appliances. While playing, the little housewife gradually acquires useful skills in housekeeping.
5. "Kotygoroshko" from Kiev SeaPirates Publishing House
This very interesting publishing project – “Pirates of the Kyiv Sea” – has published one book so far. It is the Ukrainian folk tale “Kotygoroshko”, decorated with luxurious illustrations by Ivan Sulima.
It has interactive games – for example, maces fall from the sky and can be broken with your finger, there is a coloring page and other attractions. Writer and literary critic Volodymyr Dibrova believes that the fairy tale “Kotygoroshko” can become not just an ordinary folk tale, but rather reach the level of a real Ukrainian myth. But for this, it is necessary to first introduce children to it.
6. Antomimes. The Language Monsters (Smart Adventure)
The interactive game "Antonyms. Language Monsters" is a version of the printed book of the same name, published by the creative workshop "Agrafka". This is a game aimed at linguistic education of the child - it helps him learn antonyms and trains memory - it includes the well-known game "Memory". This game also teaches the child to distinguish emotions.
7. The Pumpkin's Year by DigitalDealerz
This application differs from the previous versions of the list in that it does not work separately from the printed edition. Its interactivity is manifested when the user himself scans the pages of the book with the camera, which become magical as a result. The book "Pumpkin Year" was created by Kateryna Babkina and Yulia Pylypchatina, Stary Lev Publishing House (2014).
Such pages are marked with a pumpkin, and when the little reader points the camera at the app's disabled location, the pictures start moving and the sound also starts playing. This creates a new augmented reality.
"Old Lion Publishing House" also reported that in addition to this book, another book by Babkina and Pylypchatina is planned in the same format - "The Hat and the Whale."
8. "Rainbows" from Glowberry Books
One of the most animated authors in Ukraine is writer Siyanika Anton. His latest book about seven dragons of different colors has also become a multimedia application.
Who are the rainbows? They are those who build bright rainbows, helping people descend from the heavens to our earth, that is, return from the tempting world of dreams to the realities of life around them.
9. "Lyuba Zhuzha" (Anatoly and Anastasia Lavrenishin)
The book "Lyuba Zhuzha" was a joint project of the Lavrenishin couple, animator-director Anatoly and playwright Anastasia. The book includes fairy tales for primary school children, which can also be fairy tales for adults, according to the developers themselves.
The project has an original musical score and is available in four languages (Ukrainian, Russian, English, and French). The author of the music is Anton Baibakov.
10. "A cat is walking along the bench" (arranged by Lyuba Pyatnochko)
The book "A Cat Walks on a Bench" is an amazing collection for the youngest children. The first printed version of this book was published in 2011 by the publishing house "Koleso".
It includes a collection of finger games, small fun rhymes and mobile games for little hands and feet. This selection will be a real find for young parents. It is through touch, play, and words that young children gain new experiences, learn about their environment, and create their own emotional world.
Although there are not many multimedia elements in the book, some small poems were written and sung specifically for the interactive version of the book, developed by Oleg Kuzio.
Comments and opinions from creators of interactive applications
Co-founder of Gutenbergz publishing house Volodymyr Usov says that for some reason he has not noticed a major expansion of the segment of interactive books in Ukraine over the past three years. Other publishing houses have tried to create interesting projects, but insufficient demand and unwillingness to pay for content in digital format have not yet revealed all the possibilities of this segment, do not give a chance to enter the full market. Therefore, the Ukrainian version of Gadgetarium is free today.
The US has also not yet become a large market for interactive books, preventing this segment from fully developing, especially next to productivity apps or games. Volodymyr believes that the nature of this phenomenon lies in the very essence of interactive books. It takes a lot of resources to create a quality product, and the value of the final product itself is not very clear to a wide audience. But, according to Volodymyr, solutions for e-books, for example, already exist, so we need to follow the news, because work on the implementation of the project has already begun, and this will be a completely new phenomenon in Ukraine. Volodymyr revealed only that it will relate to fiction in the Ukrainian language.
Olga Cherepanova, director of Glowberry Books, believes that for her publishing house, the creation of interactive books and children's educational applications is a separate direction, completely independent and very interesting. But this product is of interest not only to the Ukrainian audience, but also to a wider circle. The applications are created in Ukrainian, English and Russian, and some are even configured for the Chinese and German markets. Today, the audience of Ukrainian parents is only 15% of all consumers of children's applications. Olga attributes this indicator, which is unfortunately quite low, to the fact that Ukrainians are not always willing to pay for such interactive books, as well as to the system of parent education in general.
Parents should be able to use modern gadgets, a tablet or smartphone, to be able to track what new useful digital products have appeared on the information technology market. And also to read such interesting interactive books with their child.
Games are more popular because they do not require the constant presence of parents. An interactive book involves parents reading or listening to a book with their child, which is very important for the child's development.
According to Oksana Zyobro, head of marketing and public relations at Stary Lev Publishing House, today an interactive application is not a means of increasing sales, but a way to distribute and popularize a book in any format, an opportunity for parents and children to love reading books. An interactive application alone will not make a book a bestseller, but it can interest parents and children in the process of reading and learning new things through a book. When the Stary Lev team saw the unusual and very attractive book "Pumpkin Year" by Kateryna Babkina, they were delighted with its magic and witchcraft. After all, this book is a real miracle! Such an enthusiastic reaction also occurs in parents, and it encourages them to buy this book for themselves and as a gift for their relatives and friends. Through such an application, children will learn to love reading, to love books in general, and will discover for themselves the magical world of creating reality.
And the album of songs by Sonya Sadova "Blue Eyes, Black Tail" is a wonderful musical addition to the book by Taras and Maryana Prokhaskiv "Where the Sea Disappeared" - it is an opportunity to perceive the book world not only visually, but also with other senses. Yes, you can dance, sing, and have fun together with the heroes of the fairy tale.
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