Ruckus Launches Own Reader App, Focused On Building Reading Skills

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Ruckus Media Group is launching a Ruckus Reader app Monday through iTunes, in the vein of Scholastic's Storia platform and PlayTales (originally Touchy Books). The focus of Ruckus Reader is on the acquisition of reading skills, and it includes learning assessment reports so that "parents can easily understand their child’s reading level and their progress week-to-week."
Focused on preschoolers through second graders, the Ruckus Reader has three different reading levels, for emergent, beginning, and independent readers. And it's designed to "match age-appropriate standards determined by the Common Core State Standards. "Children practice early reading skills from letter sounds, word recognition, sequencing and story comprehension, though the ultimate goal of the program is for children to have fun with and learn to love reading."

A little confusingly, they distinguish their prouct as iReaders (digital storybook titles), e-Readers (e-books), and vidReaders (narrated video books). Many of the products are built around branded characters: The Wiggles, Hasbro's My Little Pony and Transformers, Crayola, SeaWorld, and a number of Houghton Mifflin Children's titles, including Curious George.