A web-slinging kid from Queens inspired the development of the latest educational storytelling app from Kuato Studios — Marvel Hero Tales.
The new app for iOS and Android offers kids ages 7 to 11 a new way to experience Marvel stories while helping to develop their language and reading skills. Launching with familiar heroes, including Ms. Marvel and Spider-Man, kids will receive an on-screen assist from the iconic characters, who will guide players through creating their own comic books in an effort to improve both vocabulary and expressive language skills. Additional content featuring heroes such as Captain America and Captain Marvel, along with villains such as the Green Goblin will also be available.
“This is the most personal project I’ve ever been involved with, not just because of my love of the Marvel Universe, but also because as a child with undiagnosed dyslexia, school, and particularly reading, was incredibly challenging for me,” says Mark Horneff, CEO of Kuato Studios. “I remember one day when I was 8, my Mum picked me up from school and gave me a copy of Spider-Man — my very first introduction to Marvel. From that moment on I was hooked; I read it cover to cover every day. Those adventures fed not only my imagination, but my confidence as a storyteller and my passion for reading. My hope is that Marvel Hero Tales will inspire a new generation of Marvel readers and storytellers, and in some small way, allow that 8-year-old to repay some of the debt I owe to Peter Parker.”
Kuato Studios worked closely with the Centre For Applied Language Studies at the University of Portland, as well as teachers and schools in the UK, to develop specific vocabulary content for the app, which is based on the Corpus of Contemporary American English and mapped to U.S. and UK literacy grade standards.
