If space is at a premium and your iPad or iPod is already close to full, I feel your pain. In your honor, I’ve listed these story apps from smallest space hogs to biggest. This is a work in progress, feel free to suggest developers to add to the list, although if their books are atrocious, that would be a no!
Storybook developers:
TouchyBooks Interactive (most are around 10-15 MB)
Yasmin Studios LLC (most are around 10-15MB)
PicPocket Books (most are around 10-20 MB)
Oceanhouse Media (most are around 15-20MB) * SASK Favorite Pick * for overall quality, price, selection and media size. I own several and have come to expect that Oceanhouse Media = quality kids story app.
TabTale LTD (most are around 15-20 MB )
Magic Ink books (most are around 20 MB)
Storychimes by Sienna Entertainment (most are around 30 - 50MB)
iReading ( most are around 50 MB)
iBigToy (most are around 50 MB each)
Tizio Publishing (most are between 15 and 75MB)
Loud Crow Interactive (most are around 25 to 100 MB, except for PopOut! Books, see below.StorySmyth Ventures Ltd. (most are around 30 to 100 MB)
Nosy Crow (141 and 193 MB)
Loud Crow Interactive PopOut! books are HUGE files but worth it if you have space, they are magical! Wait until they go on sale if you can, as they tend to be pricey. iTunes says they are about 150 MB but on my iPad the pop up ones took more than 600 MB EACH)Ruckus Media (many are around 200-300 MB)
Many of this apps have beautiful illustrations and are narrated by famous people like Meryl Streep, Meg Ryan and Jeremy Irons. Wonderful titles like Pecos Bill, Steadfast Tin Soldier, Goldilocks
Added May 2012~
Auryn Apps - a wide array of topics including the Miko series; many have the ability to touch a part of the scene and hear/see the word label for that item.
See Here Studios - these story apps are visual treats. The language is rich, and the respins on classic tales are so much fun!
Ideal Binary, Ltd. has the neatest, most unique 3D Grimm's fairy tales! The kids love them! They have related activities embedded into the story- for example, you can sort objects into their correct spot in Little Red Riding Hood's house, or even take down her cape off a coat peg. You can grow flowers along the path to grandma's house. You can "chase" the wolf at the end, and so on. The kids think this is great fun, and it is a wonderful way to get them engaged in the story. I then compare these versions with other versions of the same story and work on compare/contrast goals.
I'll discuss Story Reader Apps (a single app with many titles available through in-app purchase), Book apps by title, Customizable book apps and Create your own story apps in later posts (one day, perhaps...)
