What it is: an interactive book about the life cycle of a frog presented by... a funny frog character called Franklin.

What you do with it: listen to the narration or read the book yourself. Touch Franklin to make him talk about frog facts ('I swallow my food without chewing it') or perform simple tasks (jump over lily pads, eat worms etc).

What we liked: the 'story' (the concept is well explained and easy to understand, lots of details included), simple illustrations and animations, easy operation, interactive elements complementing the story, great educational value.

What we didn't like: we would prefer an adult narrator (as an option).

Bottom line: the price may be high but we really recommend Franklin.

What it is:an app teaching letters and numbers (shapes of letters and numbers, sounds, tracing, writing).

What you do with it:please see our video review.

What we liked:great concept, overall look and feel, simple operation and navigation, types of activities, great educational value (inclusion of uppercase and lowercase letters as well as 'written' fonts), visual clues.

What we didn't like: kids would love even more animations and cool effects. Spoken instructions would be good.

What it is: an interactive animated story (about 18 minutes long) about the values of caring, generosity and friendship.

What you do with it: follow The Rooster and his Grandma around the farm, interact with the story (e.g. collect various objects from farm animals that are met along the way to help solve the mystery of the Rooster's lost voice).

What we liked: the story (theme, flow, humor), beautiful illustrations and animations, cute characters, great narration and voice acting, background music. The interactive elements don't distract and help to keep the child 'immersed' in the story.

What we didn't like: no text for reading/following the story on your own (we would like to see it as an option), for children and parents used to typical 'swipe the page' interactive books the navigation may not be intuitive at first.

Bottom line: we wish there were more apps like this one...

What it is: a pack of activities for teaching sight words, spelling, addition and subtraction.

What you do with it:please see our video review.

What we liked: high educational value, easy operation, audio instructions and clues, intelligent reward system, 'player' configuration, management and reporting options.

What we didn't like: activities may get repetitive after some time. We experienced occasional audio glitches when using this app.

What it is: an interactive strategy puzzle solving game.

What you do with it: help Freddi Fish and his friend Luther collect items, solve puzzles and piece clues together to solve the mystery of the stolen Great Conch Shell and open the Founder's Day Festival in the fantasy underwater world.

What we liked: the concept, number and variety of tasks, number of interactive elements, cute characters, fun factor, great illustrations and animations, sounds and sound backgrounds matching the storyline, overall high quality of the app.

What we didn't like: the audio quality could be better. No clues/instructions for parents (to help kids with the puzzles). Not much educational value.

We rated the app's interface as 'Kid Friendly' but younger or less game-savvy kids will need parent's assistance with the gameplay.

Bottom line: a must-have for all young gamers.

What it is: a pack of activities for developing and strengthening early math skills.

What you do with it: please see our video presentation.

What we liked: simple tasks, well executed, wide range of early-math covered (numbers, comparison, grouping, patterns, counting, sequencing, tracinng, etc), nice graphics, good interaction, spoken instructions, good reward system, great solution for accessing the 'settings' option.

What we didn't like: there is no way to choose particular activity, choice of activities could be wider.

What it is: an interactive animated book about friendship and sharing (12 pages long).

What you do with it:listen to the story (or read it yourself) and interact with the objects on every page (sounds, animations, 'responses' of the characters etc, minigames).

What we liked: the story, excellent illustrations, easy operation and navigation, animated and interactive elements complementing the story, the music and sound effects. Excellent reading/narration/configuration options (e.g. the text is highlighted, there are quick buttons for repeating a paragraph or for hiding the text box, the narration/music volume can be adjusted separately etc.).

What we didn't like: we missed some sort or visual clues or instructions (for parents) where to find the interactions.

General notes about our book reviews: although when reviewing books, we try not to review the story itself, the general impressions will be reflected in the Overall Score.

The Age Range assigned to books will be usually broader compared to other apps, as they can be useful for both younger (with parent/narrator reading) or older (reading on their own) kids.

What it is: an interactive book (10 pages long) with a Science Fiction twist.

What you do with it:listen to the story (or read it yourself) and interact with the objects on every page (some of them are just 'for fun' like shooting with the laser beam, some more purposeful, like a jigsaw puzzle or a musical memory game). .

What we liked: the concept, excellent 3D illustrations, extra interactive elements (over 100 items), easy operation and navigation (e.g. you can easily access every individual page), excellent reading/narration/configuration options (the best we've seen so far): the text is highlighted, there are quick buttons for repeating a paragraph, hiding the text box or recording your own narration, the pitch of the narration can be changed, narration/music volume can be adjusted separately. Very informative help/instructions section.

What we didn't like: we would love to see fewer 'fun' and more 'educational' interactive elements or puzzles. The story about a green guy who goes to work is nice but some kids it may not find it too appealing (or understandable).

General notes about our book reviews: although when reviewing books, we try not to review the story itself, the general impressions will be reflected in the Overall Score.

The Age Range assigned to books will be usually broader compared to other apps, as they can be useful for both younger (with parent/narrator reading) or older (reading on their own) kids.

What it is: an app for teaching children the basics of programming based on the LOGO programming language.

What you do with it: program the turtle to draw lines, shapes, play sounds by using simple commands (draw, turn, play sound) and basic programming language elements (loops, variables etc). There are 3 main modes of play: learning mode (follow the instructions and try to solve the task using a given set of commands, there are 3 levels of difficulty, 9 tasks each), composition mode (make your own graphical compositions using all available commands) and projects mode where you can review and modify 30 ready-made projects.

What we liked: the excellent (and very well implemented) concept, easy to use visual interface (but please see below), very good help system with instructions, the option to set up multiple student accounts.

What we didn't like: we found the 'game like' interface in the learning mode a bit confusing (we would prefer a text-based menu). We would like to see more basic tasks with simple instructions (for younger kids). More complex levels lack detailed instructions ('what do you use loops or variables for'). No option to share your projects with other users.

Bottom line: an excellent app for teaching planning complex tasks, sequential and algorithmic thinking and basic concepts of programming.

What it is: an interactive book from the Cat in The Hat's Learning Library about the North and South Poles.

What you do with it: two modes of 'reading' the book: listen to the narration and follow the text or read the story yourself (or have the story read to you by a parent). Touch the objects on pages and their name will be displayed and read out. Touch highlighted ('difficult') words and their meaning will be explained. Touch the 'interactive diagrams' for illustration and explanation of 'scientific concepts.'

What we liked: the story, good educational value, the interactive 'extras' (but please see the note below), excellent reading options (words are highlighted, you can touch a word to have it read out, you can touch and hold the words to repeat a paragraph), professional narration, sounds and sound backgrounds, visual clues.

What we didn't like: the idea behind 'interactive illustrations' (like the one explaining how polar bear's fur 'works') is good but there are just too few of them. Many 'diagrams' lack true interaction (e.g. in the diagram explaining Earth's axis we wish we could 'spin' the globe around to illustrate the concept).

Note about ads: the app has an option to display news and ads from the publisher but this option can be turned off in the settings menu.

Bottom line: much more value than the print version of the book!

What it is: a pack of 18 games and activities concentrating on fine motor skills, critical thinking and problem solving.

What you do with it: please refer to the full list with descriptions available on the producer's website: http://littlebitstudio.com/bugsandbuttons/

What we liked: the concept, great graphics with very realistic animated insects, easy navigation and operation, the number and quality of (most) of the activities, adaptive learning system (difficulty increases or decreases depending on the child's progress), the sound backgrounds, the 'stamp collecting' rewards feature.

What we didn't like: no spoken instructions (in our opinion the 'visual instructions' were sometimes not sufficient). Some activities may require some help or additional explanation from a parent. We didn't like the human-like sounds (when insects are touched), the numerical scoring system with a timer (not very useful for younger kids), the activities where the insects are 'hurt' (caught with fingers or flung with a slingshot). The app could have even more educational value if it contained some real-life facts about the insects (e.g. presented in the Stamps section).

Bottom line: a great set of fun activities for developing fine motor skills, critical thinking and problem solving.

What it is: an interactive book about a dog who wants to become a pop star in an 'American Idol/X Factor' music competition (one of the judges is even named 'Simon Growl').

What you do with it: there are options to read the book yourself, listen to the narrator (including the Auto Play mode) or record and play back your own narration. While you are reading, touch the objects and characters on pages for interactions/animations and sounds.

What we liked: the story, illustrations and animations, interactive elements complementing the story, humor, professional audio narration.

What we didn't like: the navigation options could be better. The animations are not played back automatically in the 'Auto Play' mode.

What it is: an interactive book with additional educational activities introducing the basics of telling time and how to read the clock.

What you do with it: listen to the story and touch the screen for some interactive elements. Educational activities include: learning how to read the hours one by one (by moving the sun or the moon around the clock), a simple puzzle (putting the right numbers on the clock) and reading the hours from the analog clocks by matching them to what the narrator says.

What we liked: the concept, easy navigation, good educational value, nice illustrations, good story and narration. Good options for 'reading' the book (highlighting the portion of text being read, repeating the paragraph). Simple but quite good educational activities with voice and visual clues.

What we didn't like: we wish the story was longer! While the text on the page is being read, touching the 'interactive' objects, e.g. the speaking characters, will make both sounds play together. The app concentrates only on the basics of telling time (full hours). No randomization in the activities (the tasks appear in the same order).