Wanderful Interactive Storybooks
Wanderful Interactive Storybooks is a developer of interactive storybook apps based on the titles originally published as Living Books by Broderbund Software.
The company was founded in 2010 by Mickey W. Mantle, who oversaw the original Living Books technology development as Vice President of Engineering and Chief Technical Officer at Broderbund.
Mantle, CEO of Wanderful, assembled a small team of the original Broderbund programmers to create a new engine that could take the animation, graphics, sound and music from the original Living Books CD-ROMs and play them back at full-screen resolution on the iPad using a touch, rather than a mouse driven interface. Mark Schlichting – creator of the Living Books series – joined the team as Chief Creative Officer and developed touch-driven updates to the original mouse-driven interface.
Through a number of corporate mergers, the publisher Houghton Mifflin Harcourt had acquired the rights to the Living Books titles and content. Wanderful bought the rights from HMH to republish the original games, as well as new and updated versions, and concurrently partnered with many of the authors of the individual stories that became Living Books.
Wanderful was acquired by the Jordan Freeman Group in January 2023. On May 17, 2023, the acquisition was made official, along with Freeman's announcement of a partnership with Arthur creator, Marc Brown.
Living Books titles
Wanderful has re-released the following Living Books titles for the Android (operating system), iOS and Windows :- Arthur's Teacher Trouble by Marc Brown
- Little Monster at School by Mercer Mayer
- The Tortoise and the Hare an Aesop fable
- Harry and the Haunted House by Mark Schlichting
- The Berenstain Bears Get In A Fight by Stan and Jan Berenstain
- Arthur's Birthday by Marc Brown
- The Berenstain Bears In The Dark by Stan and Jan Berenstain
- Ruff's Bone By Eli Noyes
- The New Kid on the Block by Jack Prelutsky, Illustrated by James Stevenson
- Dr. Seuss's ABC by Dr. Seuss
- Dr. Seuss's The Cat in the Hat by Dr. Seuss
- Dr. Seuss's Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss
- Sheila Rae, the Brave by Kevin Henkes
- Stellaluna by Janell Cannon
- Just Grandma and Me by Mercer Mayer
- Maggie's Farmyard Adventure by Pat Farrell
- Arthur's Computer Adventure by Marc Brown
- Arthur's Reading Race by Marc Brown
- D.W., The Picky Eater by Marc Brown
Additional titles
Wanderful has re-released, under their Wanderful Edutainment banner, the following non-Living Books titles for Windows :- Arthur's 1st Grade by Marc Brown
- Arthur's 2nd Grade by Marc Brown
- Arthur's Kindergarten by Marc Brown
- Arthur's Math Games by Marc Brown
- Arthur's Pet Chase by Marc Brown
- Arthur's Preschool by Marc Brown
- Arthur's Reading Games by Marc Brown
- Arthur's Sand Castle Contest by Marc Brown
- Arthur's Thinking Games by Marc Brown
- Arthur's Camping Adventure by Marc Brown