iPad App Review: Timo and the Magical Picture Book, Plus A Chance to Win A Copy

Timo and the Magical Picture Book

$4.99

iPad Only

Version: 1.6

Tested on: iPad 2 (iOS 4.3.2)

Rating: 4 of 5

Timo and the Magical Picture Book is an interactive storybook for your children. The story is written by Rian Visser, author of more than 50 children books. In this book, Rian works with Belgian illustrator Klaas Verplancke, winner of many prestigious illustration awards. And, the result is a unique story with detailed illustrations and some level of user interactivity.

The story started with Timo receiving a parcel from his Uncle Nick. As what most children would do when they receive a parcel, they couldn't help their excitement from shaking it around and listen to the parcel contents movement, then trying to guess what could be inside the parcel. But, little did Timo know about the parcel. It contained a magical picture book which was not supposed to be shaken.

The reason behind it was that this is a magical book. When you open the book, everything surrounding you in the real life will be sucked into the book, including yourself. In no time, Timo, his parents and his baby brother were stucked inside the shaken book, which caused everything to be mixed up. 

Now, this is where the book as an iPad app really shines. You (and your children) can shake or tilt your iPad in a way that would change the objects shown within the book. Plates and many other stuffs would be moving around if you choose to shake or tilt your iPad. As what commonly found within an interactive book for the iPad, there are also areas within each image where you and your children can tap it to see how the book would respond to it. 

The book comes with two modes, i.e. read it yourself or listen the audio narrative. It also comes with two languages, i.e. English and Dutch. A lot of features are also available for you (and your children) to explore, e.g. swipe and blow. You can swipe certain objects and screens, and there is one particular page where you can blow the microphone of your iPad to make changes to the object in the screen.

Now, for a very limited period of time, you have a chance to actually win one of the five promo codes for this great interactive storybook. And, here are the steps you need to take to get a chance to win the promo codes:

1. Follow @appenthusiast on Twitter
2. Tweet this: "Explore the story of #Timo and his magical picture book on your iPad. Get a chance to win a copy! http://bit.ly/jpIjlq via @appenthusiast" or just click the small blue Twitter share button on the top right of this post.
3. The contest ends on Saturday, Apr 30, 2011, 23:59 PST
4. I will choose randomly the five winners

Join now and get your chance to win this great product!


UPDATE: If you miss out the chance to win this interactive storybook, you now have the chance to visit the developer's website and follow the instructions there to get your promo code.


Check out my other iPad app reviews here.