Sesame Workshop has rolled out an ebook store in the form of an iPad app, providing access to more than 150 titles to users of the tablet device.

The Sesame Street ebooks are also available via an online subscription at http://ebooks.sesamestreet.org/. Consumers could subscribe to either one month of full access for $3.99 or one year of unlimited access for $39.99.

?The strategy behind our ebook subscription app is simply to provide consumers with another means of accessing our library of hundreds of their favorite Sesame Street ebook titles at their convenience ? anytime, anywhere, and regardless of whether or not they are connected to the Internet,? said Scott Chambers, senior vice president of worldwide media distribution at Sesame Workshop, New York.

The app is available for free in Apple?s App Store. Users can browse title selection free of charge.

Current subscribers of the Sesame Street ebook store can use the app to access their bookshelf with an iPad and will not need to make an additional subscription purchase.

Instant success
The app was just released this month and quickly rocketed into the Top 10 Free Apps in the ?Books? category on Apple?s iTunes store, Sesame Workshop claims.

The Ebook titles are offered in a variety of formats such as ebooks, audio ebooks and animated ebooks.

The regular ebooks let a child read at their own pace. Audio ebooks contain story narration, sound effects and music.

Animated eBooks bring Sesame Street characters and stories to life in full-color animation.

Sesame Street eBooks on the iPad feature options such as page flip, which allows the user to turn pages with just a swipe of the finger or a tap on the screen.

Auto play automatically turns book pages and text highlighting reinforces the narration in audio ebooks.

Impelsys developed the digital publishing platform.

As a non-profit organization, Sesame Workshop relies in large part on the passion and support of it's fans to help spread the word on many of its content initiatives.

Word of mouth will be the No. 1 driver of app downloads.

?With the iPad, Apple introduced a device with a highly intuitive user interface and large color screen that finally allows for rich, full-color children's storybook content,? Mr. Chambers said.

?When combined with Apple's already successful iTunes media platform, it finally provides children's publishers in particular with an ebook publishing platform that can offer an engaging reading experience for young children,? he said.