LeapFrog’s brand name is strongly associated with the edutainment industry, and it comes as no surprise that their latest product is a toddler-sized “book explorer” known as the Tag Junior book pal. It will be out this summer, so kids can always get themselves prepped up for school during the summer holidays before they actually dive headlong into their books when school opens. The Tag Junior system was specially designed to cater for little hands and aims to help young ones build a lasting interest in and love for reading – something that is sorely missing among the youth today who would much rather want to be entertained passively by a game or movie without using their own brain to think. The Tag Junior system has its own nine-book library that will feature classic books, favorite characters as well as original titles that we’ll look at right after the jump.

The Tag Junior pal is a character-based handheld device which allows toddlers to interact with specially printed board books. All your little one needs to do is touch the book pal’s base anywhere on any page of a Tag Junior board book, and the page will be read aloud, accompanied by sound effects that will further enhance the images while a soundtrack is played for that added immersive adventure. Of course, when I was much younger and running around in my diapers, Enid Blyton’s tomes were extremely precious to me, and I didn’t need no soundtrack and effects to help me stay absorbed in the Faraway Tree or the chaotic scenes found in the Naughtiest Girl in School. Well, this is better than having junior grow up while getting an education from MTV, I suppose.

The Tag Junior book pal works best with children ages 2 to 4 years, and will retail for $34.99 while individual Tag Junior board books are $10.99 a pop.

Press Release