If you’re a parent with an iPad and/or iPhone, and your children haven’t experienced Nosy Crow‘s apps, they have a real treat in store.

The British publisher – which makes physical books as well as apps – has released a succession of beautifully-crafted apps based on familiar fairytales. The Three Little Pigs, Cinderella and Little Red Riding Hood are all essential buys on the App Store as far as we’re concerned.

Now there’s a brand new one: Jack and the Beanstalk. Released today for iPhone and iPad, it’s Nosy Crow’s best app yet, with more things to do, without detracting from the storytelling.

You know the story, of course: Jack sells his family’s cow for magic beans, grows a beanstalk and then heads up it to behave frankly rather anti-socially in a giant’s castle, nicking his treasure then chopping down the beanstalk to give him a nasty fall. He’d get an ASBO round here for that kind of malarkey!

As ever, the app looks very good indeed: a characterful illustration style and carefully-crafted scenery. As with other Nosy Crow apps, the voice narration comes from children rather than adults – something the publisher thinks appeals more to its young app readers. The music is also worth a mention: it’s very atmospheric.

Also good: the gamey-ness of Jack and the Beanstalk. It’s still very much a story, but once Jack gets to the castle, he can explore nine rooms, each with their own mini-game to play. They also make full use of your device’s features, from reassembling a broken mirror that shows your own face (using the camera) to tilting to send a bucket down a well while avoiding unwanted objects.

There’s also a Simon Says-style musical piano game, where you have to follow a series of musical notes while trying not to wake the giant up. Previous Nosy Crow apps have had light mini-games, but the ones here are a bit harder (in a good way – there’s a bit more challenge to them) and even more fun to replay.

The company is hoping it can appeal to “reluctant boy readers” with all of this, although we’d think girls will get just as much out of it. All in all, it’s marvellous.

Jack and the Beanstalk by Nosy Crow costs £2.99 for iPhone and iPad on Apple’s App Store, with no in-app purchases.

Read about more fairytale apps for kids on Apps Playground, and check out our 100 Best iPad Apps of 2013 e-book – £1.99 from Apple’s iBooks Store