London, United Kingdom – Angel’s Great Escape: A Christmas Story was originally launched in 2012 and has been updated to include additional parental gateways for 2013.

Writer and founder of And So We Begin, Kirstie Rowson is excited about re-launching the app for the festive season, “We are keen for parents to be 100% comfortable with their little ones enjoying our apps and wanted to make sure that the parental gates that we have included are robust and non-intrusive. Christmas is all about that wonderful feeling we get from family and friends gathering around and the cosy familiarity of the Christmas classics and we really hope that Angel’s Great Escape will become part of that tradition with children enjoying Angel’s festive adventure year after year. We couldn’t be more proud that Alan Titchmarsh agreed to narrate the story, his warm tones really complete the Christmassy feel of the story. We are also really pleased to be able to add the Snow Globe to our list, it’s brilliant seeing little ones being creative with the Angel’s Great Escape characters.”

Angel’s Great Escape is an original tale written in rhyming verse, featuring beautiful illustrations by Kristyna Litten and accompanied by an original score written by Ginny Walker. The magical story is about Angel and her decoration friends, Fairy, Reindeer, Snowman and Teddy who have been left behind at the house of Mr Mean and his son. They know that they belong on the Christmas tree in the house of the Good family across the road. They need to escape! But can they make it?

Children can tap, drag and swipe to help the decorations as they clamber down the stairs, dive through the cat flap and wade through the deep snow to get to their dream home. All the while being pursued by the Mean family cat who is surprisingly good at throwing snowballs. An unexpected ally is waiting in the snow to help the decorations along the way and the reader can be part of the adventure. And look who’s waiting to greet them at the Good’s house, it’s Father Christmas who needs some help to put them all on to the tree!

And So We Begin worked with online agency, J & J (withjandj.com) and independent developer, Stefan Nowak of SN2apps (sn2apps.com) to create Angel’s Great Escape using the Corona SDK framework (coronalabs.com). They are also busy working on a traditional book version of the story to be released for Christmas 2014. Since the release of the app last Christmas, Kristyna Litten has gone on to publish her third picture book, Pigeon Pie Oh My! written by Deborah Singleton and published by Oxford University Press. For more information about Kristyna Litten’s work, please visit website.

Angel’s Great Escape: A Christmas Story
Device Requirements
Angel’s Great Escape: A Christmas Story app is compatible with:
* iPad and iPhone running iOS 5 upwards
* Mobiles and tablets running Android 2.2 or higher, Nook (all versions), Kindle Fire (all versions)

Pricing and Availability:
Angel’s Great Escape storybook app is available at $4.99 USD (or equivalent amount in other currencies) Half price for one day only on Sunday 1st December!

Snow Globe: A Christmas Treat
Device Requirements
Snow Globe: A Christmas Treat is compatible with:
* iPad and iPhone running iOS 5 upwards
* Mobile devices and tablets running Android 2.2 or higher

Pricing and Availability:
Snow Globe: A Christmas Treat is available at an introductory price of $0.99 USD (or equivalent amount in other currencies) and available worldwide exclusively through the App Store in the Entertainment category.

And So We Begin
Angel’s Great Escape: A Christmas Story on iTunes
Purchase and Download – Google Play
Snow Globe: A Christmas Treat
Kristyna Litten’s work

Located in London, United Kingdom, And So We Begin is a new, small and collaborative app maker. They make apps that we hope parents and children will enjoy together. They like making people smile. They know that nothing can replace real life books but think that apps allow children to engage in stories in a whole new exciting way. Founder Kirstie Rowson is as an event manager by day, working on projects as diverse as BBC Sports Personality of the Year and the RHS Chelsea Flower Show. By night, Kirstie is a story, copy and scriptwriter and she is currently developing projects with Graft Films. And So We Begin started to take shape with Kirstie’s desire to self-publish her children’s stories and a realisation that creating them as apps would truly bring her stories to life. Her organisational expertise has also lead to her co-write a wedding guide book, The Complete Wedding Handbook: Your Wedding, Your Way published by Virgin Books. Copyright (C) 2012 And So We Begin. All Rights Reserved. Apple, the Apple logo, iPhone, iPod and iPad are registered trademarks of Apple Inc. in the U.S. and/or other countries.