Valentine Mystery Critters: a digital picture book

As a picture book author-illustrator, I've been intrigued by the advancements in digital books, especially features that aren't possible in printed books. After looking into book apps and other technically arduous and expensive ways to add motion, effects such as appear/disappear, and other fun elements to my picture book making toolbox, I recently found a much simpler way. The video shows how adding simple animations can allow a book to exist that would be impossible otherwise. And I made it myself without a lot of unnecessary fuss.

As the video mentions, Valentine Mystery Critters was made in PowerPoint, of all things. I used the built-in vector shapes to keep the file size small and also just to see what could be done with simple circles, triangles, rectangles, and of course, hearts. Optional speaker notes are included in case a teacher or parent wants to extend the book beyond reading and watching it. For example, you can discuss the different kinds of shapes, their colors, their orientation, and so on before proceeding to watch the shapes assemble themselves into a critter.

Naturally this format has advantages and disadvantages, so here goes:

Pros

• PowerPoint is installed on zillions of computers.

• The book can be read on Mac or Windows computers with or without a projection system.

• It can be viewed on iPad with the free app SlideShark...it's easy to use and even has a built in laser pointer, which is always fun.

• While it was tedious work to get the animations working right, it was relatively easy and straightforward to make the book in PowerPoint compared to hiring a developer and trying to enter the labyrinth that is the Apple iTunes/App story, for example.

• You can include printable activity pages.

Cons

• PowerPoints have limited interactivity compared to book apps and the various formats for interactive whiteboards.

• PowerPoints don't have digital rights management like iPad apps do, so somebody could steal my work and post it online. What can I say except let's hope the pirates have bigger fish to fry than to steal my digital children's books...! Also, people who use pirated versions don't have access to updates.

• The book won't function properly on old versions of PPT. Someone has tested it for me and it works fine on the Windows 2007 version. Of course, most digital products run into this issue.

There probably are other "cons" but I can't think of more at the moment.

Here's the cover and the link to the book on my TeachersPayTeachers store.

No doubt I've only scratched the surface of what can be done in PowerPoint...the program has been around for a long time, but it's new to me. One thing that is on my list is to make a non-linear something or other, because you can have multiple links on a slide that take you to different slides.

Update: I've also made a version for Mac Keynote. (It won't work on the iPad, but the PowerPoint book will with the SlideShark app. Ironic, I know!)

Have a great Valentine's Day!

Seeing Symmetry is here!

While I knew my latest book was for spring 2012, it was a nice surprise a few days ago to find out it's in the warehouse and is shipping right now. Eeeek! Guess my procrastination about making a trailer had to end sometime:
I've been working on the idea of a picture book about symmetry for a long time, and finally it's here so yay! In the years of wrestling with how to present this topic, I kept worrying that some other author would scoop me. Because for some odd reason, very few trade books about symmetry have ever been published (for children, that is.)

Perhaps it's an age thing…a few decades ago when I was in elementary school, if symmetry was ever brought up at all it would have been in an art class. However, my nieces and nephews knew all about line and rotational symmetry because it was added to the math curriculum quite some time ago. (There are additional types of symmetry, but those are the ones covered in this book.)

Because symmetry is such a fabulous combination of art and math, it was a natural topic for me. I've created some symmetry activities, including some free heart templates which could come in handy in the next week or so to make a few valentines. Here is a better look at the front:

And here's what the back looks like:

Yep, it really is backwards! If you don't have a book about symmetry in your library, by all means ask your librarian to please order it. : )


Thanks!

Loreen

Tracks in the Sand now on the #iBookstore!

After being stuck in my flat files for too long, my sea turtle picture book is back in the swim of things again.

Here is the iBooks preview page …if you’re using an iPad to read this blog post you can download a free sample right away.

Or, later on you can open your iBooks app, click on the Store button and search on Tracks in the Sand. Eventually I’d like to make this book available on other tablets/formats, but this is a start.

Also, this page on my web site has a coloring page to download.

So now the question is, what will my next digital project be…?

Toodleloo for now!

Loreen