From fairytales to telly tales, ecological stories to kids’ comic strips, 2013 has seen a good crop of story iPhone and iPad apps for kids.

We’ve been rootling through our monthly best-apps roundups to compile a top 20 for the year, as part of our wider 100 Best iPhone and iPad Apps for Kids of 2013 feature. Here, you can find the results, with links to get them from the App Store, as well as to our original articles.

Little Red Riding Hood by Nosy Crow (iPhone / iPad)
“It bears all the company’s hallmarks: beautiful production values; canny use of your iPhone or iPad’s hardware; and voice narration from children rather than adults… Little Red Riding Hood by Nosy Crow is one of the apps that shows why parents and teachers are excited about the potential of book-apps for kids.”
Get it now or read our article

Ladybird: Read it Yourself (iPad)
“The app offers digital books across four reading levels, matching those from the print books. Four are included in the app download, one from each level: The Three Billy Goats Gruff, Pirate School, The Elves and the Shoemaker and The Pied Piper of Hamelin… Children can tap on words to hear them read out loud, and they can record, save and play back their own voices reading the stories too.”
Get it now or read our article

Justin’s World: Goldilocks and the Three Bears (iPhone / iPad)
“Loved by millions of children for his CBeebies TV shows, Justin Fletcher released his first app in May: a retelling of Goldilocks and the Three Bears. Video of Justin telling the story sits side-by-side with fun educational mini-games with counting and sorting. And yes, he does get into character as Goldilocks and the bears…”
Get it now or read our article

Charlie and Lola Me Books (iPhone / iPad)
“The app is based on the existing Me Books app. That means stories with voice narration – in this case from the TV show’s cast – and the option to draw ‘hot spots’ on the screen to record you and/or your children telling the story. Up to three versions of these recordings can be saved to listen to later.”
Get it now or read our article

Paper Fox (iPhone / iPad)
“A beautifully-crafted animated storybook for iPhone and iPad. The star is Paper Fox himself – ‘a know-it-all fox, whose only desire is to nap in front of the fire’ who is shaken out of his lazy ways by a series of earthquakes.”
Get it now or read our article

Kung Fu Robot (iPad)
“This interactive comic book was a marvellous find on the App Store last month. It tells the story of Kung Fu Robot – “the Unicycle Champion of the 3rd Northern District, the world record holder for “ice cream sandwiches eaten in one sitting…” Kids swipe between the comic-style cels to follow the story, while also playing with a soundboard and a whack-a-ninja mini-game.”
Get it now or read our article

Jörgits & the End of Winter (iPad)
“Something for slightly older children, this: a magnificent sci-fi storybook with a climate-change theme. The story concerns a group of aliens who flee their freezing planet for one that’s warming up: ours. It’s an illustrated novel with animation and some interactivity too, with the serious message never overwhelming the storytelling.”
Get it now or read our article

DK Peekaboo! Read-along Stories (iPad)
“An app based on publisher DK’s Peekaboo! pop-up books. The app offers a mixture of digital stories and mini-games based on the Peekaboo! books, starting off with three: Things That Go, Playtime and Farm, with more to follow.”
Get it now or read our article

Classic Winnie-the-Pooh (iPhone / iPad)
“Here’s a treat for anyone with fond memories of A.A. Milne’s original Winnie-the-Pooh stories, and the illustrations that accompanied them. There’s an app for that… The app collects those original stories, adding colour and animation to the illustrations. Actor Rufus Jones is on board to provide voice narration, too.”
Get it now or read our article

Planes: Storybook Deluxe (iPhone / iPad)
“We know all about Disney’s Cars movies, but Planes? It’s the next big-screen installment, set in the world of Cars but… higher up in the sky. In advance of the film’s debut later this summer, Disney has released Planes: Storybook Deluxe for iPhone and iPad. It looks like a sweet teaser for the movie… expect a mixture of text, animation, video clips, music and a mini-game.”
Get it now or read our article

The Phoenix Weekly Story Comic for Kids (iPad)
“We hadn’t seen children’s comic The Phoenixbefore its publishers emailed us about its new app. We love the idea of it though: a 32-page comic with no ads or covermounted toys: just stories, beautiful illustrations and puzzles. The iPad version looks really good too. Each issue includes a bunch of stories, with children able to zoom in on each panel individually, while swiping their way through the issue as a whole.”
Get it now or read our article

Axel Scheffler’s Flip Flap Farm (iPhone / iPad)
“Inspired by the flip-flap books that let you match sections of different pictures: in this case, the top and bottom halves of various animals. ‘What do you get when you cross a goat with a turkey? Why, a gurkey, of course! What about a pig with a sheep? Well, that would be a peep, naturally!’ as the App Store listing puts it.
Get it now or read our article

Frozen: Storybook Deluxe (iPhone / iPad)
“Tells the Disney movie’s story through its two sisters: Anna and Elsa. Besides reading the story, children can record their own voice narration, and flip their device around to switch between the different viewpoints. There’s also interactivity: puzzles, ‘frosty drawing tools’ to make pictures, and a (virtual) snowglobe creation section.”
Get it now or read our article

Henri Le Worm (iPhone / iPad)
“Part storybook and part recipe collection, with some big names involved. Actor Simon Pegg provides the voices for characters including Henri Le Worm, Derek the Ladybird, Sebastian the intelligent Slug and Texas Lou the Spider, while chef Raymond Blanc provides 10 recipes for children to cook.”
Get it now or read our article

Strangebeard – The Pirate Princess (iPhone / iPad)
“A storybook-app about a princess named Isabel, who goes to a party dressed as a pirate, and then finds her self sucked into ‘an incredible, action-packed adventure filled with pirate galleons, fearsome monsters and fruit-flinging monkeys’. The app uses StoryToys’ familiar technology to create a pop-up style digital book, with mini-games and lots of interactivity.”
Get it now or read our article

Chug Patrol: Ready to Rescue (iPhone / iPad)
“The story is based around qualifying for your Chug Patrol badges alongside enthusiastic trains Wilson, Brewster and Koko, with other Chuggington characters also making appearances… The app is designed to look like a physical book, getting kids to flip through pages of text and pictures.”
Get it now or read our article

Peter Rabbit Me Books (iPhone / iPad)
“It’s called Peter Rabbit Me Books, but actually Beatrix Potter Me Books would be a more accurate name, as it covers a range of her famous animal tales… Like those previous Me Books apps, the stories are told through pixel-perfect digitisations of the original books. You can tap on the text to hear voice narration too, supplied by a pair of famous names: actors Richard E. Grant and Tamsin Greig.”
Get it now or read our article

Disney Classics Collection (iPhone / iPad)
“A collection of digital storybooks: Dumbo, Bambi, Snow White and the Aristocats. Each gets its own story with added animation and interactivity, including musical mini-games, digital colouring, puzzles and other games. Children can personalise the app with their name and photo, and each story comes with trademark sweeping-strings music, as well as voice narration.”
Get it now or read our article

North Pole – Animal Adventures for Kids (iPhone / iPad)
“Developer Fox & Sheep has published some of our favourite children’s apps, including Nighty Night, Little Fox Music Box and Petting Zoo. We’re all ears for their latest app, then… An animated guide to animals of the Arctic, with more than 40 to investigate. It’s a digital book for kids to swipe through, tapping on animals to find out more about them.”
Get it now or read our article

Pan: The Fearless Beribolt (iPhone / iPad)
“It tells the tale of a “young purple panda in the clouds” named Pandora Beribolt, or Pan for short. The storyline sees her setting off with friends to find her family. Expect 16 pages of interactive scenery, a pair of animated shorts bookending the story, and a photo booth feature for kids to take snaps with Pan and the other characters.”
Get it now or read our article

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