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David Fahrer is a York Avenue Preschool parent, as well as the founder of innovative book company, Little Magic Books. We chatted with David about his brilliant idea to incorporate smarts phones into physical books (literally), to make them interactive and engaging! Learn more about David, here.

1. Children seem to love the concept of a printed book combined with technology. How did you come up with the idea for Little Magic Books?

Little Magic Books was inspired by an earlier concept I had worked on that integrated a mobile device inside a plush toy. During the development process, I was continually thinking about other ways to pair physical with digital and eventually landed on the idea of integrating a mobile device with a printed storybook, something that unlike with plush toys, had never been done before.

The book concept was ultimately a much better fit because the execution became much more of a medium for a variety of concepts, and less about the development of a single product. I also knew this would offer children a much deeper level of engagement than traditional story books while still retaining the overall feeling of reading a printed book.

2. How long did it take from concept to finished product?

I began working on the initial concept and provisional patent application in early 2012. The prototype phase lasted about one and a half years and my Kickstarter campaign was launched in April of 2014. The product was finalized and the first round of finished books began shipping to backers in November of 2014.

3. Where did the theme of “If You Owned a Zoo!” come from? What about the new concepts, “Knock, Knock, Who’s on My Block?” and “Treasure Down Below!”?

When developing the first book, I had literally dozens of concepts I was deciding between, but ultimately creating a zoo themed book was the one that had me the most excited. Having the ability to bring animals to life using interactive animations and sounds was something I knew would be a lot of fun for young kids. My wife and I would also spend our weekends taking our son, Ethan, to the Central Park Zoo which became a big source of inspiration for the interactions.

“Knock, Knock, Who’s on my Block?” will be the first sing-along book that includes animated characters who sing and dance to the words on the printed pages. It was inspired by Sesame Street’s popular “People in Your Neighborhood” song, which was a favorite of mine growing up.

As a child, my father would tell me a bedtime story about a boy who travels the world in a balloon, this became the premise for “Treasure down Below!”. This concept pushes the interactivity level one step further by adding randomized story elements. On every page, the reader is asked to help our main character spot a variety of hidden treasures located on the printed pages. The treasures you need to find will change each time you read the story, adding elements of surprise every time you reread.

4. You funded the project via Kickstarter. What was that process like?

I was very excited to launch the Kickstarter, however, there was a part of me that was nervous because the majority of campaigns don’t actually get funded. Releasing the campaign was the first time I was putting my project in the public space for people to either accept or reject. Once live, it was amazing to see so many of my friends and family supporting me and my idea, and it was even more exciting to have total strangers show support and leave comments sharing how much they loved the concept.

Throughout the Kickstarter, I was able to generate a lot of positive exposure including features on EdTech Digest, iPhone Mom, Toy Book, and was even a featured finalist at the Digital Kids Summit convention sponsored by Baby First. Overall it was a really and great experience and I’m extremely grateful for all the support I received during and after the campaign.

5. What was your biggest challenge during this project?

Lack of time. When I started, having a newborn and a full-time job left me with little to no free time to work on side projects. Most nights I only had about 30-45 minutes to devote to the project. This really slowed down the time to market.

6. What is your “day job”?

I’m the Director of Product Development for Publishers Clearing House where I develop mobile games and more specifically mobile casino applications.

7. There is a lot of talk surrounding technology and children, how much they should use it, when they should use it, should it be integrated into school curriculum. What is your stance on technology and children?

I’m personally a big advocate of kids and technology, but also understand the importance of teaching children to love to read traditional books. Over the past few years there has been a huge push for integrating technology into the classroom and for children to become more “tech-savvy”, which my wife has witnessed first hand as a public school art teacher. There has been a lot of research showing how integrating technology can help students with coordination, fine motor skills, problem solving and organization. This is why we’re seeing more and more technology-based curriculum in our schools than ever before and I expect this trend to continue.

I believe Little Magic Books can be a great resource to introduce technology in the classroom while still teaching our children to love printed books. It supports this ideal by blending classic story books with technology, yet the technology piece remains transparent. The child’s main interactions are still with the printed book, and not with a phone or tablet which makes the reading experience much more familiar.

8. What is your goal for Little Magic Books?

Right now my goal is to get Little Magic Books out to a much bigger audience and explore partnerships with classic licenses such as Sesame Street. I would love to use this medium to bring well known and loved characters to life.

Please check out http://www.littlemagicbooks.com for more information! “If You Owned a Zoo!” will be available at the York Avenue Preschool Book Fair, April 12-14, 2016!