App of the Week: Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: The Interactive eBook

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Title:‘  Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: The Interactive eBook

Platform: iPhone (3GS, 4, or 4S), iPod touch (3rd & 4th generations), iPad (iOS 4.0 and later)

Cost: $4.99

Released in time for Halloween 2011, this interactive eBook brings to life the Regency-era undead of Seth Grahame-Smith’s cult-classic novel, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.’  The app includes’  400 “brain eating pages” of text, graphics, interactive features, music, and animation.

PadWorx Digital Media and Quirk Productions have successfully produced a game-like reading experience that will appeal to teens.’  The promotional video illustrates how the text comes to life as the reader taps through the pages.

Atmospheric music and sound effects will further draw the reader into the story, and the interactive features are a true example of the media’s potential.’  Dripping blood, brain splatter, and feasting undead–all excellently rendered! Moreover, the developers corrected a minor lag between page turns with version 1.0.1. Read More →

App of the Week: Fruit Ninja

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Title: Fruit Ninja
Platform: iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch (also available in a slightly different format for Android)
Cost: .99

Say you’re a hungry ninja with a hankering for fruit salad, but it’s just not as satisfying if you don’t make it yourself, with your sword. ‘ Fruit Ninja is a fast paced action game that gets you slicing up fruit with a satisfying squelch. ‘ Slide your finger across the screen in a sword’s swipe to slice ‘ fruit, but make sure you don’t slice any bombs.

There are three game modes available: Regular, where if you miss three fruits or hit any bombs, it’s game over, Arcade: where you have 60 seconds to slice as many fruits as you can, get bonuses like fruit frenzy or freeze, and have bombs that deduct points rather than end your game, and Zen mode: 90 seconds, no bombs, nothing but fruit. ‘ Sensei Ninja keeps track of your achievements and provides Jeopardy-worthy ‘ fruit trivia between rounds. (The watermelon is cousins with’  cucumbers, pumpkins, and squash.)

Fruit Ninja links up with social gaming network OpenFeint , which allows you to’  invite friends from Facebook and Twitter, ‘ keep track of scores, and challenge the high scorers.

Recommended by teens for everybody. This game has some of my regulars saying:

“It’s fantastic and fruit is delicious!”

“It has good graphics, no visible pixels, especially when the fruit splits. And it’s addictive.”

It’s apps like these that make me want to get a couple of iPod Touches just for gaming at my library. But while I’m figuring out how to do that, go download Fruit Ninja and start slicing and dicing!

28 Days of Teens & Tech #1: The State of the Tech

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Throughout the month of February, YALSA will be posting each day on themes relating to teens and technology in (or outside) libraries. From mobile apps to tablets, technology and its applications are now an inextricable part of young adults’ daily lives. How do libraries and librarians support teen technology use? What do traditional literacy skills look like in the information age? Will we lead the charge, or struggle to keep up?

Lately I’ve been thinking about the disconnect between my personal infrastructure and the one I enjoy (or bemoan) at work. What if my tech habits at home could carry over to work?

Read More →