Los Angeles, California – Writeur Films has released David Titcher’s adventure story “Johnny & the Doomsday Machine”, an interactive kids’ novel in the iBook format. The iBook features many interactive components unavailable in traditional or even Kindle books. Fully demonstrating the revolutionary capacities of the new iBook format, the novel features many elements that can be manipulated by the reader, including educational quizzes (with immediate feedback), controllable picture galleries, animations created specifically for the book, that can be engaged by the reader. Writeur Films hopes that these interactive elements help bring the story to life to create a truly immersive and unique experience that cannot be duplicated in any other format.

Aimed at kids of all ages, “Johnny & the Doomsday Machine” details the adventures of Johnny Fremont, a 12-year-old Indiana Jones who has been training his entire life to save the world. After escaping from a boring middle school field trip, the adventure pairs him with the lovely Azelia, his archrival. It takes him from Albert Einstein’s house, where he uncovers Einstein’s greatest secret, to Morocco, and finally to London, where he must face down the ten most ruthless men the world has ever seen and stop them from destroying the world with a doomsday machine.

Writeur Films is excited by the initial response on iTunes and from online journalists such as Denise Wolfe, a columnist for MSNBC’s online Glo Magazine, who said of the book, “Johnny and the Doomsday Machine… was so much fun! I’ve never read an interactive book before and I was delighted by the interactive elements.” She went on to say, “I feel that books like yours will forever change what and how we read. I enthusiastically recommend it.”

Titcher is most known for his screenplays for such movies as “Around the World in 80 Days” (starring Jackie Chan and Arnold Schwarzenegger), the teenage cult film “Morgan Stewart’s Coming Home” (starring Jon Cryer), and the enormously popular “The Librarian: Quest for the Spear” (starring Noah Wyle and Bob Newhart), for which he was nominated for both a Saturn Award and a Writers’ Guild of America Award. Titcher’s writing background also includes such kids’ shows as “Punky Brewster” and “The Little Mermaid.” With this new interactive book, Titcher has now returned to his roots in writing for kids.

Now that LAUSD and libraries around the country are adapting to the iPad revolution and research is showing that interactive elements help children retain what they are learning and more fully engage them in the story, Writeur Films felt that this was the perfect time to introduce all this technology to the world of fiction. They began an exhaustive search looking for the right vehicle and finally chose “Johnny & the Doomsday Machine,” as it had the right elements of adventure and character they were looking for.

David Titcher was excited to create a unique immersive experience that fully utilized all the benefits of the iPad and the new media. He says, “Embedded in many chapters are quizzes on both the material in the book and other educational opportunities. We thought this would be a great opportunity to help kids learn. Taking into account the three main types of learners, the book includes visual quizzes, some text-based reading quizzes, and some audio components.” Titcher continued, “I tried to keep a lighthearted tone to the story so that kids will have fun while they are learning.”

The iBook contains:
* Interactive Quizzes (with immediate feedback)
* Animations that can be engaged with
* Videos with educational content
* Audio clips of various characters from the book
* Informational picture galleries
* Entertaining and informative slideshows

Apple’s iBooks Author has so far mainly been used in Textbooks, exhibiting its exciting and engaging interactive features but without a narrative paired to them. “Johnny & the Doomsday Machine” flips this on its head, joining interactive and engaging features with the novel to enrich and further the story, bringing the reader along for the ride with them. Titcher remarked, “While there have been interactive textbooks, this technology had never really been applied to the world of kids’ fiction.” He went on, “I hope this helps to turn the normally passive reading experience into one that’s fully active and participatory, to help readers experience the story in a way they never could before.”

Writeur Films searched a variety of platforms but felt only iBooks was up to the task. Titcher explained, “We examined other platforms like Amazon Kindle and Barnes & Noble’s Nook, but many of them only allow for plain text and, in some cases, static images. We really wanted to help update the children’s book for the 21st century.”

Readers can get their copy in iTunes through the iBookstore. The book can be experienced on the iPad and Macintosh computer with OS X 10.9. Select readers will be able to obtain a free copy utilizing the promotional codes upon request by clicking “Redeem” at the iTunes store and entering the promotional code.

Device Requirements:
* Compatible for iPad and Macintosh
* Requires iOS 5.1 and later or OS X 10.9 and later
* Requires iBooks 3.0 or later
* 166 Pages

Pricing and Availability:
Johnny and the Doomsday Machine is available exclusively through the iBookstore and iTunes available worldwide at a discounted price of $3.99 or a free sample chapter. Promo codes are available on request.

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Writeur Films is a digital new media company focusing on films and digital books with “Johnny and the Doomsday Machine” being its first entrance into the iBook platform. Copyright (C) 2013 Writeur Films. All Rights Reserved. Apple, the Apple logo, iPhone, iPad, iPad mini, iPod touch, and Mac are registered trademarks of Apple Inc. in the U.S. and/or other countries. Other trademarks and registered trademarks may be the property of their respective owners.