In celebration of Jose Rizal‘s 150th year, Vibal Foundation will launch interactive Rizaliana e-books for the iPad in June.
Vibal Foundation’s interactive e-books help children rediscover the wonder of timeless tales through books you can watch like a movie or play like a video game.
Two e-books will be available in June: The Tortoise and the Monkey and Noli Me Tangere. Noli Me Tangere will come in installments of several chapters each.
The e-books will feature an intuitive interface, gorgeous graphics, and an immersive score. Children and adults alike can enjoy these e-book apps, another milestone for the Philippines’ first interactive e-book publisher.
The Monkey and The Tortoise and the first installment of Noli Me Tangere will be available at the iTunes Store for download to the Apple iPad on June 19, 2011.
The Monkey and The Tortoise
A folktale extolling the virtues of friendship, honesty and wit, The Monkey and The Tortoise has circulated in the Philippine archipelago for centuries and entertained generations of Filipino youth. Its rapt audience has included José Rizal, the Philippine national hero, who further popularized the fable by penning a cartoon version in 1885. His English translation was later published in a European magazine in 1889.
Humorously drawn and buoyed by a frivolously percussive score, the e-book transports readers to the tropical locale of the monkey and the tortoise, then fully immerses them in the story through playful animation. As the reader, help the two animals divide the banana tree and try to pick its fruits. Take part in the action as the friends discover their differences, then rejoice with the wittier animal when these are resolved.
A charming package of illustration, animation, music, heritage, and history all rolled into one, this classic come to new life will surely delight children and adults alike.
Noli Me Tangere
Noli Me Tangere is Rizal’s seminal novel which roused revolutionary fervor in Filipinos at its time of publication. Using his sharp wit and eye for satire, the national hero immortalized the tragic love of Crisostomo Ibarra and Maria Clara, as well as the corruption imminent in the colonial clergy, in the pages of his book.
This e-book will read like a graphic novel, and feature beautiful illustrations and an immersive score. The Noli Me Tangere e-book will be bilingual, and can be read in Spanish or English. It will also feature a unique parallax effect for illustrations, which will allow users a rich reading experience on their iPads.
Philippine folklore
Before Vibal Foundation’s launch of its Rizaliana e-books in June, its parent company Vibal Publishing House launched on May 15 a new set of bilingual interactive storybook applications (apps) on the Apple iPad, bringing Philippine folklore to the fingertips of Filipino and foreign readers throughout the world.
With the release of the new iPad apps, Vibal Publishing becomes the first and only Philippine publisher to successfully deploy English-Filipino interactive editions of its popular printed children’s storybook series, Chikiting Books, on both the iPad and Android-driven devices.
The two new storybook apps entitled Mariang Sinukuan: The Goddess and Keeper of Mt. Arayat and Pagpapagayuk: The Magical Bird of Bukidnon, both penned by award-winning writer Eugene Evasco, are now available for download from the Apple AppStore.
The new iPad apps feature English and Filipino language options, customized animation, voiced narration, background music, and sound effects, all of which can be turned on and off with a single touch, at the reader’s option.
A third title in the folklore genre, Amansinaya: Goddess of the Sea, is set to be released on the Appstore in time for the formal unveiling of the digital edition of The Magical Shirt (Ang Mahiwagang Kamiseta) at the Asian Festival of Children’s Content in Singapore on May 27.
All of Vibal’s digital storybooks, including the free lite version of Yummy Fly Pie, available on the Android Market, will be showcased in the same event.
For more information on the Vibal Foundation, its projects, publications, and our celebration of Jose Rizal’s 150th year, you may contact us at:
Website: www.vibalfoundation.org
Address: 1253 G. Araneta Avenue, Quezon City, 1104, Philippines
Tel. no.: +63 (2) 712-9156 to 59 loc 343 to 344
Fax no.: +63 (2) 4168460
[...] The bloggers’ & media launch was graced by notable individuals. To name a few – Ms. Liza Bayot, great granddaughter of Saturnina Rizal, Jose’s eldest sister, Arch. Michael Liwanag of Liwanag & Liwanag Architecture & Interior Design, Arch. Miko Manalo of Escuela Taller, Ms. Maite Gallego – relative of Felix Resurreccion Hidalgo and Maximo Viola, Ms. Ria Limjap – My Rizal 150 committee member, film producer, writer and event organizer, Ms. Marga Deona – My Rizal 150’s publicity officer and General Manager of Forefoot Productions, as well as media and blogging personalities such as Noemi Lardizabal-Dado (@momblogger), Dean Jorge Bocobo, Joey Alarilla of Yahoo Philippines, Jonver David and Chuckie Dreyfus (@chuckiedreyfus). Representatives from Vibal Foundation, the leading educational publisher in the Philippines, were seen at the event as well. Incidentally, Vibal Foundation also launched their Rizal online site: /2011/05/vibal-foundation-launches-interactive-rizaliana-e-books/ [...]
Exactly why the restored mnsracuipt should be used to make publications of the work. I doubt Rizal would be pleased to learn that his labors in translating Schiller’s play have resulted in his mnsracuipt doing little more than collecting dust for nearly a century and a quarter. I’m sure he chose William Tell for Tagalog because he wanted to use it as a Promethean tool for uplifting and educating his fellow Filipinos. To continue to prevent the words on those pages from being spoken by actors is doing both Rizal and Schiller a great dishonor.
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