Maya Sarfati author and illustrator of “A smile for Elliot”gave us a glance into the creation of her first book app.
How did Eliot come about?
Writing and illustrating for children has always been a dream of mine. After being exposed to this great world of interactive books, I knew I had to take part of it.
I decided to contact Touchoo, after seeing their sweat work, and try to interest them with an idea for a book. Luckily at the time they were looking for new illustrators and writers to work with, so we met .
Elliot joined me at the meeting and apparently made a nice first impression. I was offered to be a part of a great project and to experience the Touchoo creator tool.
What inspired your idea for the book?
As a mother of a three years old girl (and a six month old baby), I often find myself looking for creative and useful tools for helping my kid through whatever life brings on ( its not easy being three years old…) In “a smile for Elliot” I try to inspire the little readers to realize that the things that truly brings us joy doesn’t have to be things that are out of reach, and that fantasies “taste” better when there is someone close to share them with.
How did you come up with the characters?
I have pages full of stuffed animals sketches… it took me a while to come up with the idea of using a koala bear, and after viewing a few photos I Immediately knew that I found my Elliot.
What technique did you use for the illustrations?
I used mainly Photoshop and combined some hand drawn textures, made with acrylic paint.
“The Sun Goes to Bed is a lovely interactive storybook – a perfect story before bed”… “These yawns are lovely, relaxing and most contagious, making it difficult for me, even as an adult, not to yawn myself as I listen to the included, peaceful-sounding narration.”
In this sweet interactive picture-book for the young ones, your child will join Benny the Cat in his daily activities, explore Benny’s world and find out how to take care of him.
Benny is a ginger cat with a fluffy tail and pointy ears. Your little one can play with him, choose his favorite food and make his bed so he can sleep as snug as a bug. Your child will love the colorful illustration but the feeling of communicating with Benny will take their enjoyment to a whole new level.
Features include:
Hand-drawn, high definition illustrations
Various narration options including the most fun: record yourself
Control over sound effects
Dynamic page turning
Age-appropriate interactivity
Personal and social abilities nurtured by this book:
Improving vocabulary
Recognition of body parts
Strengthening the perception of self
Nurturing love for animals and encouraging taking care of another being
Help the kind-hearted flower child reach her ‘happily ever after’ through a series of adventures.
Thumbelina is a modern Touch-screen adaptation to the Andersen classic.
This book-app is available in English, Spanish, Japanese, French and German!
A very fresh fairy tale, based on the captivating and all-time favorite H.C. Andersen classic! Young readers can now take an active part in helping Thumbelina reach her ‘happily ever after’.
Join Thumbelina, a girl the size of a child’s finger, as she steals the hearts of everyone she meets. She experiences an incredible series of adventures and meets a white butterfly, a hospitable mouse, a romantic mole and a gentle swallow. Your child will be an active part of the story, helping Thumbelina diplomatically handle of some sticky situations and make her way to her Happy End!
Originally written by Hans Christian Andersen, this classic fairy tale was especially adapted for touchscreens by Touchoo’s co-founder Keren Essigman and approved by Touchoo’s child development expert as fitting to the intended age group.
We at Touchoo believe that children’s books can bring the world together. To facilitate this, Thumbelina has been carefully translated into Spanish, French, Japanese and German. Each version offers a beautiful, rhyming text and a fully-localized user interface.
Features include:
Various narration options including the most fun: record yourself
Control over sound effects
Dynamic page turning
Original text and illustration
Age-appropriate interactivity
The amazing illustrations for Thumbelina were created by Hagit Hashimshoni. Hagit is a renowned illustrator and designer, who lives and creates in Tel Aviv. She specializes in commercial illustration for advertising, animation and internet. Hagit runs a studio, together with her diligent assistant Pye (a ginger tomcat with a great taste in design).
Social benefits of Thumbelina:
Nurtures the capacity for empathy and for reference to the other
Develops the ability to tell oneself from the other
Encourages the child to identify his own desires, as opposed to the desires of the other
Personality benefits of this book-app:
Increasing the capacity for difficulties and failures
Teaching your child reciting and counting numbers has never been more fun!
Come and join 1 Little Boy on his exciting imaginary journey and experience the numbers in a playful way.
Age: 2-4
1 Little Boy is a picture storybook about a child’s fantasy before his bed time. Animal characters you know and love from children stories and rhymes come to life and join the little adventurer on his imaginary trip. As the story unfolds, your child will actively explore the numbers one to ten and learn to recite and count them.
1 Little Boy was created especially for touchscreens. It’s written by Touchoo’s co-founder Keren Ben Or and illustrated by the incredible Ido Hirshberg, who is an Israeli illustrator and comics artist ( You can see what he does on his flickr). All Touchoo books go through careful inspection by a child development expert, so you will receive the best and most suitable product for your child.
Features include:
Various narration options including the most fun: record yourself
Real animal sound
Control over sound effects
Dynamic page turning
Original text and illustration
Interactivity
Psychological research has shown that the best way for our children to learn how to recite and count numbers is through active and playful methods.
At this age group, children develop the ability to process a series of stimuli, as well as an understanding of quantity and the idea of numbers.
Abilities nurtured by this book:
Becoming familiar with the names of the numbers;
Being able to count (unlike reciting, counting carries an immediate link to the recited objects)
Being able to process a series of input while maintaining concentration
Overcoming diversions, such as a variety of shapes and of possibilities, challenging and improving the child’s abilities to discern. The variety in this story is adequately challenging while not too distracting, as all the characters belong to the same category (all being animals).
