Review – Goodnight Mo – The Pop-Up Book on your Phone!

J is starting to discover the joy of books, he loves flipping through them and making a Kenneth Williams esque ‘Oooooh’ face at each page. Obviously, he’s still only little and has a tendency to eat / chew / destroy books, the ones that largely survive his ‘reading’ are the board backed books. It’s a shame because I’ve shown him some pop-up books, and he’s coo-ed and giggle at them, moments before reaching out and trying to destroy the delicate card.

The team behind ‘Goodnight Mo’ got in touch – they’ve developed a traditional pop-up book, but it’s all safely behind the screen of your phone / tablet in an app form. To start with I was slightly concerned that having an app like this does away with the fun of having a book in your hands, and being able to touch and hold it. To be honest, it does – BUT it’s not a bad thing, because this is a pop-up book that can’t be ripped to shreds in the blink of an eye by a excited toddler!

Goodnight Mo is a sweet little ‘story’ about Mo getting ready for bed, Mo completes a bit of his bed time routine on each page, before finally drifting off to sleep. It’s a pretty simple story, but hey, it’s aimed at little uns!

As you turn each page the story is read to you, the voice similar to the ‘narrator’ from ‘In the Night Garden’ (J loved that!). On each page most of the ‘pop-up’ elements are interactive, a poke of a chubby digit will bring them to life with a small sound and animation. You can of course turn the narration off and read to your little one, although I must admit I did love the narrator of the story, he’s got a very calm and sleep-inducing voice!

It’s also got a cool 3D effect as you twist and tilt your device, the book moves too!

Whilst nothing can take away the fun and excitement of a REAL pop-up book, this certainly is a worthy replacement, especially for really little ones. The app is simple to use, and looks stunning on both my Galaxy S4 and Nexus 7 tablet, as well as being available for Android from the Play Store, you can also get it for your favourite Apple device from the App Store.

Disclaimer – Story Toys gifted me a copy of the App to review, all words and opinion are my own!