In this special edition of YALSA’s App of the Week series, our app reviewers bring you their selections (listed in alphabetical order) of apps that make great gifts for teens. A gift card to the Apple App Store or Google Play might also make a great gift for a teen.

Before reading the suggested gifts in our Gift Giving Special, nominate two of your favorite apps for teens in 2012. You’ll be able to come back and see all of the nominations and place your vote on December 20.


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Title: Brian Cox’s Wonders of the Universe
Cost: 6.99
Platform: iPad 2 and higher with iOS 5 or higher

“Wonders of the Universe, a new app from the BBC, HarperCollins, and Professor Brian Cox, takes you zooming through our universe, from a broad view at multiple galaxies all the way down to a look at subatomic particles–with more than a film’s worth of videos, a staggering amount of gorgeous space photos, and hundreds of interesting articles as well. It takes the idea of an interactive textbook far beyond what we’ve seen before.” — from Wonders of the Universe App Is Your Space Textbook of the Future

In previous App of the Week posts I’ve talked about how librarians will want to start thinking about and looking at apps as a part of their non-fiction and textbook collections. Brian Cox’s Wonders of the Universe is a perfect example of this. The app is filled with lots of good text-based information. Read More →