The app isn’t an add-on to the books. It’s the toolkit Ava and Cocco actually use along the way, and readers get the same one. When a new or unfamiliar word appears in the book, it’s in Cocco’s Encyclopedia. When the book sets the reader a task, the app is where they work it out.
That’s the point: to show a child that a screen can be used to figure something out, not just to scroll past it.
Digital tools aren’t the enemy of reading. Used well, they’re a valuable way to solve problems and tackle challenges. Using them that way is a habit worth developing early.
Stuck on a word or phrase in the book? Cocco will explain it. Usually with rather more confidence than necessary.
Type what you want to say in your own language, and get it translated. The languages follow the series: each book unlocks a new one. And when the book sets a language task, the translator helps you along.
Look up any place and see it on the map, from a single street to a whole country. With the GPS, you can follow Ava through the book, and see how far you are from where she is.
Every flag in the world, and what the colours and symbols mean. Nothing on a flag is there by chance.
Type in a place, and see how many hours ahead of you or behind you it is. It’s easier to understand that the Earth spins when you can see it’s already evening somewhere else.
Photograph an illustration in the book and zoom in, because sometimes the answer is hiding in the details. Scan the barcode next to a line of dialogue in another language, and the translator opens to show what’s being said.
Children can look up whatever they’re wondering about, without ending up somewhere they shouldn’t. Curiosity without the risk.
A simple drawing program where children can draw whatever they like. Some tasks are about colouring in, like the Taj Mahal and its gardens. And for anyone who prefers a pencil, the book has blank pages of its own.
The app is in development. Several of the tools are already built and working; the rest will follow as Book 1 nears publication. The features listed here are those planned for the first version.
Publishers, illustrators & enquiries
mail@avaandcocco.com