What we love…
Pure nostalgia, a Halloween classic brought to life.
What we’d love to see…
Removal of IAP’s and removal or childproofing of Facebook Links.
Summary
Overall, we really loved the book itself, it’s not quite as interactive as A Charlie Brown Christmas but its still a really fun seasonal book and already a favorite in my household. With the dress-up option we feel having a coin based IAP in a children’s app is not appropriate and should be removed.
Our Rating
It’s The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown, from Canadian app developer Loud Crow Interactive, is a universal app and an adaptation of the classic Halloween story from Charles M. Schulz. If you are looking for a slice of Halloween nostalgia you need look no further. It has the orignal music, artwork and dialog from the TV Special and is narrated by Peter Robbins the original voice of Charlie Brown. You can switch the narration off, and control the background music level independently. The words are highlighted as it is read, and touching individual words makes them be spoken too.
The app opens to a old record player playing a record of the soundtrack and you then open a book to begin the story. The story is told as a pop-up book with animations and interactive elements. The story covers most of the story from the TV Special but without the scenes of Snoopy and the Red Baron. Linus jumps into the leaves, and Lucy pulls away Charlie Brown’s Football yet again. The main story centers around Linus’s belief in The Great Pumpkin. The gang goes out Trick Or Treating while Sally and Linus wait for The Great Pumpkin. As usual poor Charlie Brown ends up with a bag of rocks instead of candy and Linus has to wait another year to try to get a glimpse of The Great Pumpkin, but he never gives up hope.
The app has a number of interactive elements in it including falling leaves which you can touch to enlarge, getting Lucy to bob for apples, smashing pumpkins, collecting Halloween candy and playing the piano with Schroeder. The reader can also look out for bags of Halloween candy, and earn candy when they find them. They can also earn gold for successfully completing tasks within the app such as playing It’s a Long a Way to Tipperary correctly on the piano. It doesn’t have quite as many interactive elements as A Charlie Brown Christmas, but is still a fun adaptation. There is also an option to carve a pumpkin that then appears in the story, this is very cute and a fun activity for kids and they love seeing their pumpkin in the app, it does have a Facebook share button though which I would like to see childproofed.
The other extra activity is the option of choosing an avatar that looks like a Peanuts Character and dressing him/her in a Halloween costume, the avatar then appears in costume in the story. This could be a really wonderful addition to the app as the kids love dressing him up and seeing him appear in the story, however this option does include in-app purchases. There are a number of free costumes, and many, more available for purchase. Some costumes cost candy and some cost gold coins. You can earn candy in the app, and limited amount of gold too. What I really don’t like is that there are in app purchases to buy more coins that range in price from 99c to $29.99 ! I really don’t feel this is appropriate in a children’s app. To access the avatar and dress it up you have to create an account using an email address or Facebook log-in, this is an additional hassle, but it does mean that if you opt not to do this your child won’t have access to the dress-up section and in-app purchases.
Overall, both my myself and my children really loved the book itself, it’s not quite as interactive as A Charlie Brown Christmas, but its still a really fun seasonal book and already a favorite in my household. With the avatar dress-up option though we really do feel having a coin based IAP in a children’s app is not appropriate and should be removed. The free costumes and costumes you can earn, are a fun addition if you are using the app with IAP’s switched off in your settings, and if your children aren’t going to be begging to buy more paid costumes, otherwise I would just advise parents not to create an account to use this feature at all.
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It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brownby Loud Crow Interactive Inc.Category: Entertainment, Books Requirements: Compatible with iPad 2 WiFI, iPadThirdGen, iPad 3G, iPadMini, iPhone 4, iPadThirdGen4G, iPodTouchFifthGen, iPadMini4G, iPod Touch (3. Gen.), iPhone4S, iPad 2 3G, iPadFourthGen4G, iPadFourthGen, iPad WiFi, iPhone5, iPhone 3GS, iPod Touch (4. Gen.) Size: 202.27 MB |
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Screenshots
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Screenshots for iPad
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Giveaway
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Mary
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Alison, Amanda, Grace and Mary are four mothers from different parts of the world dedicated to educating parents about the best digital stories, educational apps, fun games and technology products available for their children. We also offer the latest news in apps for kids, interesting articles, developer interviews, free apps and regular giveaways!
My favorite Halloween memory is when my father dressed up as a woman to take us kids out, and was so embarrassed by how good he looked he felt the need to add an obvious beard to his ensemble! :)
favorite Halloween memory is bartering goodies with my two sisters.
I was a fan of opening my bag after trick-or-treating and sorting the candy!
I love getting together with family every year to watch The Great Pumpkin & to carve jack-o-lanterns!
going straight to hell for this one, one time years ago when we were young myself and my brothers tapped one of the Halloween horror films and watched it the following day (parents knew nothing, they were off doing parent stuff) and I remember getting up to the bathroom and we were petrified but i got a wet cloth and crept up behind the brother and draped it gently on his shoulders, he’s still traumatised over it and I was grounded for weeks :-)
its a memory of myself and my dad before he passed on it was the only time he ever took me trick or treating
Favorite memory is taking the kids to grandma’s house for donuts and cider after a night of trick or treating!
I remember the first time that I was allowed to give out the candy to Trick-or-Treaters. I felt very grown-up. =o)
my favorite memory was dressing up as a kid
My favorite memory of Halloween was when I won the costume contest in 5th grade.
I remember coming home and sorting my candy and swiping candy with my brother.
my fav memory is dressing up and looking at everyone elses costumes, watching the streets full of kids
trading candy with my sibling
The Witches by Ronald Dahl was one of my favorite middle school books :-)
Going trick-or-treating with my cousins and brother and then coming home to drink some hot chocolate
Recently, it’s been helping my autistic daughter dress up as a princess every year for the past 6 years. She’s 14 now.
Bobbing for apples with my cousins at the farm.
Having Halloween parties each year at my school for my students
When my kids were little, they took third and first place in a costume contest. Boy were they cute! :-) Drew was dressed as a pumpkin and Cindy was a ladybug. Did I say they were cute? ;-)
I love going to the pumpkin patch
Halloween Bones!
my favorite kids book is The Night Before Halloween
My Monster Mama Loves Me So
Making the costumes with my mom! A great memory for me
I loved making caramel apples from the caramels and apples we got trick or treating
carving pumpkins and roasting the seeds to eat.
My favourite Halloween memory is of the first Halloween party I went to at 17 year of age!
My Favorite Memory was winning first prize for my homemade clowns costume at my first party .
My favorite memories are hayrides with the church and singing Halloween songs…
So far my favorite Halloween memory is when my community had a small haunted house for all the children, it was so much fun!! I imagine that my new best memory will be this Halloween because my son’s service dog will be accompanying us for the very first time!
trick or treating when I was about 9 – the only time we have done it :)
my boys are so excited this year is the frist time they get to dress up for Halloween
Favorite memory – loved going door to door on cool nights, with my father and my brother.