There’s no denying anymore the iPad’s prowess as a business tool.  But perhaps where it shines the most is at home.  At least in my home.  My kids probably use our iPad more than me!  Disney Publishing has put out some of our most favorite iPad apps.  Their read along books (Toy Story, Princess and the Frog) are amongst my youngest’s favorite things to do on the iPad.  Almost every time she spots the iPad she asks “can I read Toy Story 3?”  Disney recently released a new application based on everyone’s favorite clown fish, Nemo and we had the chance to take it for a test drive.

The Finding Nemo Puzzle Book, like Disney’s other books for the iPad, is a read along style adventure.  You can choose to have the narrator read the story to your child or record your very own voice to be used instead.  Imagine being half way across the world, in another time zone, but still  being able to “read” your child his/her bedtime story.

In this adventure, in addition to listening to the story, you child gets tasked to find various object normally found in a fish tank.  The objects get hidden amongst the story but are easily recognizable as the “jiggle.”

The narrator reads the story in a clear, easy to understand manner.  He doesn’t speak too fast, which is good.  My 5 year old was able to follow along just fine.  When the text has been read you or your child advances to the next page by pressing the directional arrow.

Also adding to the fun are several jigsaw style puzzles that form themselves from the very pages of the book.

Using a finger you or your child drags the puzzle pieces into their proper location on the page.

When you spot one of the fish tank treasure pieces (such as the treasure chest in the page below) you simply tap on it.  The piece then springs to life and automatically adds itself to your haul.

When you reach the end of the story you’ll then be asked to help Nemo decorate the fish tank using all of the pieces you collected throughout the story.

If you missed any pieces along the way the app tells you so and you’ll have to return to the story to keep looking.

Once you successfully find and place all the treasures into their proper place in the fish tank the volcano erupts in celebration as you’ve reached the end of the story.

There are few settings within the app but they are accessed by tapping the Mickey ears/Book in the lower left corner of the app – at any time.  It is here you can choose to record you own voice.  You can also change the difficulty of the puzzles, turn off the narrator feature altogether as well as make the app advance the pages of the book automatically.

If you want to advance or go back to a page at any time you can also do so from the settings via an easy to navigate slider style interface.

The Finding Nemo My Puzzle Book has enough fun for kids of all ages.  My youngest enjoyed having the story read to her while my older girls were able to read the story themselves and challenge the more difficult puzzle setting.  The illustrations are well done, the app runs smoothly and there’s enough replay value to keep us coming back to it often.  Disney continues to offer up some of the best iPad books for kids based on the characters and stories your children already know.  We can’t wait to see what comes next!

You can download the Finding Nemo My Puzzle Book via the iTunes App Store for only 99 cents.

MSRP:  99 cents

PROS: Interactive, offers ability to record your own voice, fun for all ages.

CONS:  None.