An Interview with Meg Lonon: Reading with Bert and Ernie?

3.19.10 - Michael F. Shaughnessy - Meg, I understand that moving Picture Books are working with Sesame Street on a series of books. How did this come about?

An Interview with Meg Lonon: Reading with Bert and Ernie? 

Michael F. Shaughnessy

Eastern New Mexico University

Portales, New Mexico

1)      Meg, I understand that moving Picture Books are working with Sesame Street on a series of books. How did this come about?

Moving Picture Books began conversations with Sesame Street in October of 2008.  After a series of meetings, Sesame Street chose MPB as its partner in the next generation of eBooks.  As a team we have worked tirelessly to create a fun, entertaining and educational products for young readers. 

These animated stories are loads of fun! Your children will join beloved Sesame Street characters as they recite rhymes, learn school readiness skills, and sing along to songs. Read by children and adult storytellers, the animated books are filled with visual surprises, fun sound effects, and music.

Children will laugh and learn with Elmo, Big Bird, and the rest of their lovable Sesame Street friends. Giggle with Abby as she finds out what makes her monster friends laugh, and learn with Elmo as he shows children that going to the dentist can be fun! Learn the ABCs with Cookie Monster, and discover easy tips on ways we can improve our environment and our world from lovable and furry Grover!

Each story is presented with, read-along highlighted text, which has been hailed by educators as an excellent tool for engaging young children and reinforcing early reading skills.

As an added bonus, original Sesame Street cast member Bob McGrath joins the stories,  he poses questions and activities pertaining to each story. These interactive "Ponderables" --fun and book-related educational activities--open and close each Moving Picture Books Sesame Street animated book.

2)      Are these books going to be available on C.D. or am I behind the tech curve as usual?

MPB’s are available as downloads and DVDs; however our Sesame Street line is only available via download at www.movingpicturebooks.com and launching April 5 on iTunes.

3)      Meg, for what age range or grades are these appropriate?

We like to say 0-8, but our sweet spot is 2-7

4)      Some of these relate to things that kids are going thru like visiting the dentist- Tell us about this approach.

Both MPB and Sesame Street try to produce books that are entertaining and informative as well as try to teach life-lessons like sharing and caring.  We feel that this approach is a great way to supplement what parents and teachers are trying to teach our children.

5)      How do these books help with fluency, literacy and vocabulary?

We are in the process of conducting a research study in conjunction with the University of Tennessee to get measureable answers to those questions.  What we have heard from the many educators that have reviewed our products is that MPBs combine the best in story-telling with accurate pacing and timing that will engage young readers thereby improving the possibility that they will enjoy reading.   What we hope to find in the study is that by using MPB’s as a supplement to reading the comprehension and retention of young readers improves.

6)      Do you have a web site where readers can get more information or find out more about Elmo or Cookie Monster?

www.movingpicturebooks.com

7)      What have I neglected to ask?

Let me give you a little more background on Moving Picture Books (MPBs).  MPBs is a line of animated children’s books that bring children’s literature into the 21^st century. By combining high quality animation, narration, sound effects and music, MPBs provide an experience that is both educational and entertaining. In addition, MPBs focus on mobile and emerging technology allows parents and children to interact with the content both in the home and ‘on-the-go’.  In addition to the 6 Sesame Street titles there are 38 other Moving Picture Books titles including classic stories such as “On Top of Spaghetti,” “Princess Polly and the Pea,” “Eight Silly Monkeys,” and “Noah’s Ark,” as well as many new stories; therse are also avaiIable at our website,  www.movingpicturebooks.com .   I think we have covered just about everything, we are really excited about MPBs and have several new publishers we will be bringing on board in the near future.  Please let me know if you have any other questions and more importantly, please tell us what you think!