Little Red Hen App

RANDOM HOUSE CHILDREN’S BOOKS LAUNCHES THE SECOND IN A LINE OF APPS BASED ON BELOVED LITTLE GOLDEN BOOKS CLASSICS

The Little Red Hen Is Now an App Available on the iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch

(December 12, 2011, New York, NY)—Random House Children’s Books (RandomHouse.com/kids) announced today that The Little Red Hen app, the second in a growing line of Little Golden Books apps, is now available in the iTunes store. The classic Little Golden Book that adults loved as children is even sillier and more stunning in this magically interactive storybook app for iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. This app is released on the heels of The Poky Little Puppy app, the first Little Golden Books app which became available in August 2011.

Beloved illustrator J. P. Miller’s graphic, colorful farm animals seem to jump right off the page—but they aren’t jumping to help the Little Red Hen plant her wheat! Young children will learn a valuable lesson about teamwork from this funny, favorite folktale. Beloved by children and adults of all ages, The Little Red Hen is an essential part of any child’s home library. The Little Red Hen app retails for $3.99.

This engaging app has been specifically designed to encourage reading and listening comprehension skills, and to reinforce core preschool-level concepts. Users can open the cover, complete with its distinctive gold spine, to reveal the whimsical story, with funny interactive illustrations on every page that will have kids giggling. Plus, the app encourages learning with the Little Golden Book Hide & Seek Challenge, which can be played at the end of each page to unlock bonus stickers. When the story is over, users can create their very own storybook scene with the stickers they collected and save their masterpiece to the device’s photo album. Making this app experience even more unique, users can personalize their app with their name and photograph on the inside cover. This beautifully crafted app makes storytime a special time that parents and children will cherish together.

Users have three options for experiencing the app. They can watch and listen as words are highlighted while the text is read aloud. They can also turn off the narration to read at their own pace (with individual words read aloud with the tap of a finger). Lastly, they can record their own voice to be played on each page.

Random House Children’s Books collaborated with leading digital media agency Smashing Ideas, which Bertelsmann AG acquired in May 2011 for its Random House, Inc., division. For more information about other apps also available from Random House Children’s Books, visit rhkidsapps.com.

Random House Children’s Books is the world’s largest English-language children’s trade book publisher. Creating books for toddlers through young adult readers, in all formats from board books to activity books to picture books, novels, ebooks, and apps, the imprints of Random House Children’s Books bring together award-winning authors and illustrators, world-famous franchise characters, and multimillion-copy series. The company’s website, Kids @ Random (RandomHouse.com/kids) offers an array of activities, games, and resources for children, teens, parents, and educators. Random House Children’s Books is a division of Random House, Inc., whose parent company is Bertelsmann AG, a leading international media company.

Smashing Ideas, founded in 1996, has become one of the leading digital media agencies for the youth market by creating immersive, interactive content that transforms consumer-driven brand experiences in a digital world. Cartoon Network, Disney, GE, Hasbro, Nickelodeon, Nokia, Sony Ericsson, Verizon Wireless, and more have called upon the company to develop engaging online, ITV, and mobile experiences for their audiences. In May 2011, Bertelsmann AG acquired Smashing Ideas, Inc., for its Random House, Inc., division. Smashing Ideas is based in Seattle, with offices in Portland and in the U.K.