Bay Area Creative Team Creates Children's Book Where the Characters Walk Off the Pages
See it now at: OurTeacherIsACreature.com
See it now at: OurTeacherIsACreature.com
Petaluma, CA (March 29th) - Inspired by the pioneering spirit of the countless astrophysicists and aerospace engineers who have put men on the moon and men and women in orbit in space stations, three creatives in Petaluma, a small town slightly more than 30 miles north of San Francisco, are determined to launch the world's first 'Best Stellar.'
When they do, children's publishing, like the first children who someday will venture into space and colonize other planets, will never be the same.
When they do, children's publishing, like the first children who someday will venture into space and colonize other planets, will never be the same.
'Our Teacher is a Creature,' the story in verse about Miss Maree Thorb, a substitute 4th grade teacher from Mars, currently on assignment in Topeka, who is taken aback by how much her students at 'Enderfink Elementary' don't know about the universe, is the first children's book in the history of the category to include alien characters that get up right before your eyes and walk off the page with the help of an iPhone or Android- based device. Using a proprietary type of highly sophisticated 'interactive augmented reality,' this children's book in development, featuring a story by Ralph Scott and illustrations by Marcela Vargas, is the brainchild of Bay Area children's content producer TOO NUTS PRODUCTIONS LLC and Bay Area augmented reality creator WigglePlanet.
Says, Ralph Scott, executive producer and senior writer at TNP, LLC, "For those who worry that digital handheld devices are going to replace the book, the fear is over. 'Our Teacher is a Creature' is the synthesis of both mediums, digital devices and traditional picture books. For the aliens to appear on the pages, children must keep their iPhones, iPads, Tablets or Android-based devices trained on the page."
Adds Jeff Maddux, TNP's Android expert and the app developer and one-third of the three-man development team,"The educational verses within the storyline are embedded so that they come to life as well. When a verse suggests that in space travel, the shortest distance between two points is not always a straight line, a child wondering how that works and what that looks like need only hold a handheld device over the verse. Suddenly a mini animated movie appears above the verse demonstrating how a rocketship or space plane blasting off from Earth must circle the Earth multiple times to allow the International Space Station to catch up with it. You can't just fly straight there."
Key to the story's fascination for children are 'Wiglets,' a character portfolio created by WigglePlanet founder and C.C.O. (Chief Creature Operator) Jeffrey Ventrella. His Wiglet technology uses a combination of genetics, geopositioning, and markers stored in a database to bring creatures to three-dimensional life. "Wiglets are emotionally intelligent. They respond to you. They appear to be aware of you. And they're unique. If a child bumps one Wiglet into another, a third appears that shares the genetic traits of the first two."
'Our Teacher is a Creature' is currently the focus of a crowdfunding campaign. Tapping a combination of private, offline investment and crowdfunding, Too Nuts Productions intends to roll out the first 1,000 volumes of this funny, fascinating, and informative illustrated children's book in Fall 2017. An accompanying app, now in development, provides a digital classroom taught by Miss Thorb that will allow children to learn about basic astrophysics concepts as they're simultaneously introduced to a wide array of alien cultures, many featuring alien children from around the universe.
Will there be a Miss Thorb series? Adds Scott, "The universe is our artist's palate and our playing field. Provided we can keep up with her, we intend to capture Miss Thorb's space-faring adventures and tap her for universal insights whenever she has time to check in. As a substitute alien teacher, she is on-call after all."
Too Nuts Productions, a California limited liability company, writes, develops, and produces children's content that is "Creatively entertaining...while covertly educating!"™ WigglePlanet creates emotionally intelligent creatures, Wiglets,™ using a proprietary interactive augmented reality software that liberates characters from their traditional settings while providing a deeper understanding of the environment around them.
Says, Ralph Scott, executive producer and senior writer at TNP, LLC, "For those who worry that digital handheld devices are going to replace the book, the fear is over. 'Our Teacher is a Creature' is the synthesis of both mediums, digital devices and traditional picture books. For the aliens to appear on the pages, children must keep their iPhones, iPads, Tablets or Android-based devices trained on the page."
Adds Jeff Maddux, TNP's Android expert and the app developer and one-third of the three-man development team,"The educational verses within the storyline are embedded so that they come to life as well. When a verse suggests that in space travel, the shortest distance between two points is not always a straight line, a child wondering how that works and what that looks like need only hold a handheld device over the verse. Suddenly a mini animated movie appears above the verse demonstrating how a rocketship or space plane blasting off from Earth must circle the Earth multiple times to allow the International Space Station to catch up with it. You can't just fly straight there."
Key to the story's fascination for children are 'Wiglets,' a character portfolio created by WigglePlanet founder and C.C.O. (Chief Creature Operator) Jeffrey Ventrella. His Wiglet technology uses a combination of genetics, geopositioning, and markers stored in a database to bring creatures to three-dimensional life. "Wiglets are emotionally intelligent. They respond to you. They appear to be aware of you. And they're unique. If a child bumps one Wiglet into another, a third appears that shares the genetic traits of the first two."
'Our Teacher is a Creature' is currently the focus of a crowdfunding campaign. Tapping a combination of private, offline investment and crowdfunding, Too Nuts Productions intends to roll out the first 1,000 volumes of this funny, fascinating, and informative illustrated children's book in Fall 2017. An accompanying app, now in development, provides a digital classroom taught by Miss Thorb that will allow children to learn about basic astrophysics concepts as they're simultaneously introduced to a wide array of alien cultures, many featuring alien children from around the universe.
Will there be a Miss Thorb series? Adds Scott, "The universe is our artist's palate and our playing field. Provided we can keep up with her, we intend to capture Miss Thorb's space-faring adventures and tap her for universal insights whenever she has time to check in. As a substitute alien teacher, she is on-call after all."
Too Nuts Productions, a California limited liability company, writes, develops, and produces children's content that is "Creatively entertaining...while covertly educating!"™ WigglePlanet creates emotionally intelligent creatures, Wiglets,™ using a proprietary interactive augmented reality software that liberates characters from their traditional settings while providing a deeper understanding of the environment around them.
