4 book apps offer summer fun

　　4 stars
　　This adorable story about an artistic porcupine named Spatter and his inventive best friend Spark encourages kids to work with friends to solve problems. Spatter wants to paint a portrait of the new baby crow, but he can't figure out how to do it because he has never seen him. When hearing of Spatter's dilemma, Spark designs a new invention to help: bouncy shoes. Before trying them out, Spatter asks for the reader's help in painting the shoes' sparkling colors. When the bouncy shoes work so well that the two friends bounce higher than the hole in the tree holding the crow's nest, Spark brainstorms about how to make them less bouncy. In the end, the baby bird tries his first flight out of the nest just to see the sparkling shoes.
　　Throughout the 10 pages, filled with beautiful illustrations created from craft materials, kids will find many of Spark's inventions to explore. When arriving at Spark's door, kids get to try out several creations before discovering the one that actually rings the doorbell. To build the bouncy shoes, kids drag and drop objects onto a blueprint, a process that could get them thinking about how to create their own inventions.
　　In addition to a charming, feel-good story where words highlight as spoken, the app houses four learning activities which offer three levels of difficulty. These activities teach counting, colors, and deductive reasoning. If you just want the story without the extra learning activities and don't mind a push for in-app purchases, Polk Street Press offers a free version.
　　Charlie Brown's All-Stars!
　　Loud Crow Interactive Inc., best for ages 4-10, $3.99, iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad
　　4 stars
　　The original 1966 Charles Schulz TV special gets a top-notch app treatment with this adaptation from Loud Crow Interactive. Filled with bells and whistles only possible in an app, kids get to experience this classic story about Charlie Brown leading his gang of unsupportive underdogs in a baseball game.
　　Kids will tap, tilt and swipe their way through the world of baseball as they help the Peanuts gang to pitch, bat and catch. In addition to playing baseball, kids can help Linus inflate and fill his pool, design a manager's uniform for Charlie Brown and coach Snoopy on hanging ten on his surfboard. Each pop-up page features multiple swipes where your finger movements change the perspective and narration. The app facilitates kids' learning to read by highlighting words read and allowing kids to tap on a word to hear it spoken again.
　　With the dialogue, music and sound effects from the original TV special, a new generation of kids can cheer on Charlie Brown as they learn about friendship and responsibility. This book app creates magical summer fun.
　　Ruff's Bone
　　Wanderful, Inc., best for ages 3-7, $4.99, iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad, Android, Google Play
　　4 stars
　　Eli Noyes' creative storytelling, which first appeared in 1992 as a "Living Book" computer software program, now shines in an app. The reader follows Ruff the dog through 12 different scenes as he chases his wayward bone. At first, Ruff is following the tossed bone into his neighbor's yard, but then the bone descends into chambers found under a tree, from there to a cave, then magically into clouds in the sky, the ocean, and even into outer space. This fanciful story is a hoot to explore because almost everything in every scene is interactive. Ants dance, clouds animate and an octopus tickles.
　　In addition to entertaining, the app does a great job of helping kids to learn to read by highlighting words as read, having all words be spoken when touched, and allowing kids to change the language spoken from English to Spanish. The app also has options about turning off interaction until the narrator has finished and making kids wait for one animation to complete before triggering a new one.
　　Barnyard Dance! — Boynton
　　Loud Crow Interactive Inc., best for age 2-4, $2.99 (iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad) and $3.99 (Android, Nook)
　　4 stars (out of 4)
　　It's time to do-si-do over to the silliest farm in the app world. In typical Sandra Boynton style, the animals on the farm are doing hilarious things when they decide to party. Instead of humans doing a square dance, the animals follow the callers instructions to buoyant banjo music. Kids join in the fun by interacting with the animals on the pages. You help the cow play the fiddle by drawing back his arm. If you draw a circle around the pig, it spins wildly; and tapping on the chicks sends them scurrying across the page. When the animals promenade in twos, if you touch them, you hear their true animal sound.
　　This is an ebullient way to introduce youngsters to the animals found on a farm plus the fun of dancing. The app also excels at introducing kids to the concept that words are part of a story, since the words highlight as spoken and touching a word results in the narrator saying it again.