Estimated read time: 3-4 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
SANDY — Local app developer Bradley Grimm is taking reading to the next level with his first children’s book, “Goodnight Lad.”
An augmented reality book, “Goodnight Lad” is accompanied by an app Grimm developed that allows readers to point their phone at the illustrations and watch them come to life.
“It appears as if there’s a ‘hidden world’ on top of the book,” Grimm said. “Each of the pages has fun animations with the kid dancing and playing and interacting with his parents, and through the app, you can interact with him, and he’ll interact with you.”
Grimm first got the idea for “Goodnight Lad” when his 2-year-old son, Logan, was a baby. Logan had a hard time sleeping at night because of his acid reflux and was a "really hard baby," but there were two things he loved: technology and reading.
“Most of my apps are time wasters and this kind of bothered me,” Grimm said. “I thought, ‘wouldn’t it be cool if we could take this technology and just get kids excited about books, get them interested about learning?’ ”
A couple of weeks ago, Grimm launched a *Kickstarter page to help fund the book’s printing and shipping costs. He originally asked for $5,000, but has already received more than $22,000.
“It’s actually exploded a lot bigger than I anticipated, which is great,” Grimm said of the Kickstarter. “Most people are just real excited.”
People who donate $20 to the Kickstarter project will receive both a copy of “Goodnight Lad” and a copy of the app in June.
Donations ranging from $25 to $1,500 will buy readers additional gifts, like a pair of pajamas to match the pair the boy wears in the book or a customized version of the app that replaces the boy in the book with the donor's child.
Some of Grimm’s previous apps include Goofy Glass, Scary Voice Changer and Funny Voice Changer, which have rendered more than 5 million downloads.
In the future, Grimm would make textbooks become augmented reality books so “kids could just point the app at their history book and see the battle unfold.”
“I just hope kids get excited about reading,” Grimm said. “I just want them to find that love for reading, and for parents to also. It’s not just for kids, so I hope they’ll take that time to experience it together.” *KSL.com has not verified the accuracy of the information provided with respect to the account nor does KSL.com assure that the monies deposited to the account will be applied for the benefit of the persons named as beneficiaries. If you are considering a deposit to the account you should consult your own advisors and otherwise proceed at your own risk.
