Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (HMH) today announced the release of the first two titles in the Curious George® Multi-Touch Storybook and Activities Series for the iPad. Built using the iBooks® Author tool from Apple®, Curious George Says Thank You and Curious George in the Big City are the first ever multi-touch titles to feature Curious George.

The new iBooks® Author format takes the beloved Curious George storybooks and activities and makes them available to a new generation of digital readers. The interactive multi-touch format features embedded tools that allow children to enjoy an immersive reading experience by playing an active role in George’s adventures.

“We wanted to create a digital storybook that didn’t distract children from the narrative, but instead allowed them to help the story along by completing activities that are closely tied to the plot,” said Cheryl Toto, Senior Vice President of Strategy & Planning. “Whether it’s helping George add stickers to his thank-you cards or helping him find his way back to the man with the yellow hat, these widgets bring his adventures to life and pull children directly into the story.”

Special features include embedded slideshows and animation, touch-responsive puzzles, and comprehension activities. After readers help George on his adventure, there are also related bonus activities to enjoy, including digital mazes, word puzzles and more.

Curious George Says Thank You and Curious George in the Big City are now available in the Apple® iBookstore ℠ priced at $3.99 for a limited time. Two new titles in the Curious George Multi-Touch Storybook and Activity Series will launch every month for the next six months. Click here to view a sample on the iPad®.

About Houghton Mifflin Harcourt’s Trade & Reference Division

For nearly two centuries, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt’s Trade and Reference Division has published some of the world’s most renowned novels, non-fiction, children’s books, and reference works in hardcover, trade paperback, and ebook formats. Its distinguished author list includes eight Nobel Prize winners, forty-seven Pulitzer Prize winners, thirteen National Book Award winners, and more than one hundred Caldecott, Newbery, Printz, and Sibert Medal and Honor recipients. HMH publishes such distinguished authors as Philip Roth, Temple Grandin, Tim O’Brien, and Umberto Eco, and a celebrated roster of children’s authors and illustrators including Lois Lowry, Chris Van Allsburg, and David Wiesner. HMH is also home to The Best American series®; The American Heritage® and Webster’s New World dictionaries; Betty Crocker, Better Homes and Gardens, How to Cook Everything, The Gourmet Cookbook, and other leading culinary properties; the Peterson Field Guides; CliffsNotes; books by J.R.R. Tolkien; and many iconic children’s books and characters, including Curious George, The Little Prince, and The Polar Express. For more information, visit www.hmhbooks.com.

About Curious George

Curious George was published by Houghton Mifflin in 1941 and for over seventy years he has been capturing the hearts and minds of readers young and old throughout the world. Books about Curious George, including the seven original stories by Margret and H. A. Rey, have sold over 75 million copies. So popular that his original story has never been out of print, George has become one of the most beloved and most recognizable characters from children’s literature. He has been featured in a Public Service Advertising literacy campaign in partnership with the Ad Council and the Library of Congress, and in 2012 Curious George was inducted into the Indie Choice Book Awards Picture Book Hall of Fame. In addition to the numerous books about his mischievous adventures and the bestselling digital apps, Curious George stars in the Emmy-winning PBS television series Curious George and has also starred in two full-length movies, Curious George and Follow that Monkey. For more information, visit www.curiousgeorge.com.

Curious George® is a registered trademark of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.