The last time I was at Barnes & Noble (and yes, I go there often!), I noticed a sign by the display tables next to the cafe, advertising "the first writing app for kids on NookColor."  Intrigued, I started looking for more information.

Back around the holidays, Barnes & Noble had been running a special on gift certificates from Tikatok, a company that allows children to write and illustrate their own picture books, which you then have the company print and bind -- either to give as gifts or to keep as mementos.

The new app allows kids to create and save their own picture books on the NookColor.  It looks like they are able to save a bunch of finished projects, since the app images show a Tikatok bookshelf, and just order the ones they like the best (or none at all).  Of course, since this is more or less advertising for the service Tikatok provides, the app itself is free.

I think this is just a fantastic idea.  I don't know about you, but when I was a kid, I was always making books -- stapling pages together, writing text, and illustrating the pages.  I was always writing, period, as a kid -- I can't remember a time I didn't want to be a writer.  In fact -- if I may brag for just a moment -- my parents have a tape recording of my first story ever, when I was probably a couple of years old at the most.  It involved a little girl and a volcanic explosion -- naturally.  What else would a two-year-old's first story be about?

What I love about Tikatok's new app is that it makes it so much easier for parents to save these kinds of things.  If you have a kid who wants to write and is always making books, you can just hand him your NookColor and let him create to his heart's content -- and only order the ones that are really worth keeping.  The rest of them can stay as "ebooks" on your Nook!