Ready, Set, Bowl!

The true-to-life action of PBA Bowling Challenge is so real, you’ll be tempted to lace up your bowling shoes every time you reach for your NOOK.

While I had an unspectacular bowling career on my 2-person middle school team, I still look back fondly on those days spent at the local alley. But the sleek PBA Bowling Challenge app is a whole different (bowling) ball game. I had a great time picking out the exact ball that fits my style of play, and customizing the color for maximum opponent-intimidation impact

I love playing the career mode, where I’ve worked my way up the standings to take on some of the biggest names on the PBA, like Walter Ray Williams, Jr. and Pete Weber. There’s nothing as satisfying as hearing that ‘crack’ of the pins on yet another 10^th-frame strike.

Here’s to a 300 game in your future on PBA Bowling Challenge!

Subscribers to the popular premium channels Starz, Encore, and Movieplex can now stream content on their NOOK Tablet, NOOK HD & NOOK HD+ with new free apps.

If you’re as busy as I am, it’s rare that you have a chance to sit down and watch a new movie or your favorite TV show uninterrupted. Now, thanks to three free new NOOK Apps, you can stream first rate entertainment whenever you have your NOOK and a WiFi signal.

If you already subscribe to Starz, Encore or Movieplex through your television provider, just download STARZ Play , Encore Play or Movieplex Play to stream the newest movies and original series right on your NOOK Tablet, NOOK HD or NOOK HD+. Just the other day my kids were watching The Amazing Spiderman, when they fell asleep right in the middle. The next day they were visiting their grandparents and were able to pick up right where they left off. Since these apps offer parental controls, I can also be sure that they can only select age-appropriate content, which puts me at ease.

Download these convenient entertainment apps to enjoy hundreds of movies and lots of great original TV shows right on your NOOK! 

I grew up surrounded by Disney movies, books, music and more—there’s just something magical about everything Disney. Now I’m starting to introduce the wonders of Disney to my own kids, thanks in part to the fantastic range of Disney apps for NOOK.

Toy Story: Smash It! is a new favorite in my house. I was a fan of Toy Story as a kid, and it’s been great reliving the adventures with my own children. Their favorite characters like Buzz and Woody set off on a series of challenges—with five episodes and 75 levels—traveling from outer space to the Wild West. Kids these days are such gaming pros that sometimes I find they get bored with new games too quickly. But this one has so many challenges, they’re entertained for hours!

Another recent favorite is Puffle Launch—an offshoot from the popular Club Penguin kids’ community. In Puffle Launch, players propel the adorable pet puffle—using physics-based gameplay—into a battle with Club Penguin’s Cranky Crab. The game is fast-paced and packed with 60 levels, and my kids love playing around with the different modes that they unlock along the way, like Slo-Mo and Turbo. Plus, the virtual coins they collect can transfer over into their Club Penguin account.

The impressive range of Disney apps available for NOOK show that this beloved brand has made a seamless transition to the new digital world.

An intrepid hero follows his stomach in a new time travel adventure.

Until recently, I wasn’t aware of the exciting world of Cut the Rope games and their irresistible hungry hero, Om Nom. But now that I’ve started playing Cut the Rope: Time Travel HD, I just can’t stop.

In this new adventure, Om Nom travels back in time to feed his equally hungry ancestors. You’ll go on a candy-fueled culinary journey to historical hot spots like Ancient Greece and a high seas pirate ship. Along the way, you’ll use your aptitude for physics-based gameplay to carefully ‘cut the rope’ and drop candy into Om Nom’s hungry ancestors’ waiting jaws. All this candy-crunching action had me hungry for some sweet treats of my own, but I’d hate to get any candy crumbs on my NOOK screen!

Whether you’re a longtime Cut the Rope fan, or a newbie like me, this era-spanning adventure is a fantastically fun trip.

Take a break from your hectic day with this challenging strategy game.

Growing up, I loved strategy games—there’s something quite satisfying about outwitting your opponent, so I didn’t care as much for games where luck determined the outcome. Now that I’m a busy parent, I don’t have nearly as much time for playing games, but I love to kick back with the strategy-filled game Carcassonne on NOOK when I can grab a spare moment.

This NOOK App, which is available for 25% off for a limited time, is based on the incredibly popular tile game, where players create a unique landscape of roads, cities, fields, and cloisters. Then they send their own cadre of ‘followers’ to brave this newly-created land and outlast the opponent’s followers. I never get bored of playing—either against computer opponents on in multi-player games with my family—because each game has a brand new landscape to conquer.

If you enjoy diverse and challenging games, start the adventure with Carcassonne.

Before You Take a Career Leap, Prepare Your Parachute!

There’s no better day than Tax Day to start thinking about your financial future, and where your career is headed.

For a limited time, you can save more than 50% on the What Color is Your Parachute?: Job-Hunter's Workbook app, and join the millions of people who have used this program to help make important career decisions for just $1.99. Finding the right career path can be hard—many different elements come into play. Salary and title are important, but so is making sure that your job fits with what you enjoy doing, and that you get satisfaction from your work.

While I’m not in the job market myself (hey, my boss reads these posts, too!), I found that this interactive, step-by-step program really revealed some things I didn’t know about my own skills, strengths, ambitions and priorities. It’s difficult to objectively evaluate yourself, and that’s where this app’s carefully calibrated activities offer valuable insight.

Whether or not you’ve read the internationally bestselling book What Color is Your Parachute?, downloading this incredibly helpful app is a great first step towards finding the right career path for you.

April is Autism Awareness Month—something that becomes more important as an increasing number of families are affected by autism. As parents and educators can tell you, there are many great apps that can help autistic people learn, communicate and thrive in new ways. These helpful NOOK Apps are designed to foster communication and manage autism-spectrum behaviors:

The iLearnNEarn app is a wonderful teaching resource for children with autism, with a focus on increasing the level of difficulty of the tasks as your child’s skills improve. Rather than having to download new apps when your child outgrows them, this app grows along with them. With a range of activity categories—like signs, spelling, multiplication and face reading—and a focus on positive reinforcement along the way, iLearnNEarn is engineered for achievement and success.

In honor of Autism Awareness Month, iPrompts, the original app for visual supports, is free on NOOK throughout April. Created by the parents of a boy with Autism and researched under a U.S. Department of Education study, the app provides several useful visual prompting tools (no audio prompts or voice output) to help impaired individuals transition from one activity to the next, understand upcoming events, make choices, and focus on the task at hand.  

In addition to these three apps, you’ll find many more useful and effective autism-focused apps here.

Have fun on Facebook for April Fools' Day.

Good-natured April Fools' Day pranks always put me in a great mood. So today I want to highlight a really fun app that will make your friends smile.

The Funny Status Updates for Facebook app can turn anyone into a Facebook pro. I know it can be hard to come up with clever new status updates, and posting another baby picture or report on your latest lunchtime deli trip isn’t the best way to endear yourself to your friends. With this app, you can choose from over 100,000 pre-written status updates in categories like ‘funny questions,’ and ‘awkward moments when…’ Before I post I usually personalize the text a little, just to give it my own spin.

If you want to get your Facebook friends’ attention with eye-catching updates like, “People who don’t know me, think I’m quiet. People who know me, wish I was,” and get more comments and likes on your posts, give Funny Status Updates for Facebook a try.

The calendar says it’s spring, and while some of the country is still thawing out, at least the promise of warmer weather is just around the corner.

As Easter approaches, why not download a few seasonal apps to keep your relatives and friends entertained while you’re putting the finishing touches on the holiday meal? Just hand them your NOOK loaded with these great apps, and they’ll stay busy for hours:

Mercer Mayer’s adorable Little Critter series has been a childhood favorite for generations—I know I grew up searching for the little spider hidden on every page. Now my kids practice their egg-hunting skills while following the Easter adventures of Little Critter and his family in the Happy Easter, Little Critter interactive app. Keep your youngsters occupied by offering a sweet reward for the first to find all 100 eggs hidden throughout the story.

The Cupcakes Easter! app lets budding bakers join the recent cupcake craze—all without making a mess. Your little pastry chefs will mix their own batter, bake their cupcakes, and give them a style of their own with a plethora of Easter toppings. With any luck, next year you can hand over your whisk and apron and let your kids do all the work.

Building observational skills is a key part of childhood development. Luckily, kids love ‘spot the difference’ games, where they zero in on small differences among similar photos. With Easter Time Spot the Difference, they’ll search for differences in 25 chocolate-and-sweet filled photos—developing Scotland Yard-level detective skills (and a healthy appetite for Easter candy).

Hop over to our Easter App Collection for more holiday app options.

An exclusive chance to share fun new learning apps with your kids on NOOK.

Now through April 11, NOOK is the only Android device where you can download Tribal Nova Partners’ award-winning “i Learn With” App series. Four new early childhood learning apps—targeted at ages 3 through 6—offer a curriculum-oriented, game-based school readiness program for children in preschool through kindergarten. Since the apps are based on National Education Standards and developed with the help of teachers and experts in early childhood development, I’m confident that my kids are getting a valuable and effective learning experience while still having fun. With the helpful progress tracker for parents, I can even check in on their improvement without having to look over their shoulder while they’re playing.

It’s no surprise that Ocean Adventures!  is currently the favorite in my house. My kids love anything aquatic, so they really enjoy identifying all of the undersea creatures while building their vocabulary and putting sentences together along the way. I especially like that the level of difficulty is self-adjusting so that it’s challenging for a range of ages and learning levels. Plus, like with all of the ‘i Learn With’ apps, my kids are motivated to keep improving thanks to the rewards they earn along the way.

Download these ‘i Learn With’ apps to start your kids on an educational adventure that they’ll love!

Ocean Adventures! 

Educational games for preschoolers and kindergarteners focusing on building grammar and vocabulary skills.

Savannah Adventures! 

Practice numbers, counting & addition with these fun math educational games.

Ice Land Adventures!

A diverse selection of literacy games that encourage alphabet, spelling & phonics skills.

Planet Boing!

A FREE creativity game with activities for preschoolers and kindergarteners—a great introduction to the series.