With it being Halloween this month there could be only one choice for app of the month – the brilliant It’s The great Pumpkin Charlie Brown from Loud Crow Interactive. If like us, you grew up loving the comic strip adventures of Charles M Schultz’s Peanuts then this is the app you. Based on the classic 1960s cartoon version, this interactive book features all your favourites from Charlie Brown and Snoopy to Lucy and Linus and re-tells the classic ‘Great Pumpkin’ story as a sublime interactive storybook for your iPad, iPhone or iPod touch.
With beautiful textured artwork and the original soundtrack from the TV series playing over the top (complete with narration from original narrator Peter Robbins) each page is brimming with detail and nostalgic charm. The characters appear on screen as if leaping from a pop up book and then animate across the page to tell the story creating a brilliant hybrid of comic strip, cartoon and app. Meanwhile, along the way there are great little hidden games within the story to distract and entertain you. There’s pumpkin carving, apple bobbing with Snoopy or piano playing with Schroeder and you can even create your own avatar and Halloween costume to become part of Lucy’s Halloween Party.

Although it looks and feels like a kids app this is definitely aimed more at the nostalgic grown ups as much as a young audience. As such it lack a bit of depth for older readers, but fortunately the loving attention to detail and beautiful sounds and textures really captures the look and feel of the original. As a result this makes for  lovingly created homage to Charles Schultz’s iconic characters that will delight and entertain in equal measures as it is a wonderfully charming app for kids of all ages. Plus, if you like this then you can also check out the Charlie Brown Christmas story which is in the same format!

It’s The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown is available on the iTunes Store for £2.99 and works with the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch