LeapFrog, the makers of the hugely successful, and very good Tag reader system, has updated its Junior Tag offering to make it even more kid friendly.

The new reading system figures now takes on the form of the company’s friendly dogs Scout and Violet rather than a featureless figures.

Specifically designed for 1- to 4-year olds the Tag reader system lets kids enjoy special books through playful book-based activities. The books work by having thousands of almost invisible dots on them which the Scout and Violet figures capture reacting to the instructions on the page, be it saying a word out loud, or reading the entire book.

It’s popular because why the pen holds the technology to make everything work, the book looks on the surface to be a standard paper, or in this case cardboard, book.

LeapFrog has also announced a bevy of new books as well with four new board books featuring beloved characters like Winnie the Pooh, Lightning McQueen and LeapFrog’s popular Scout and his friends all due in the coming months.

The Tag Junior book pal can hold the audio for up to five books at a time, and parents can choose to have it “greet” their child by name, with the option to swap out the books for different books via the accompanying PC or Mac software.  

Parents can then also see how their kid is performing and see whether they have any strengths or weaknesses in the books they have.

The new Tag Junior reading system devices will be available for $29.99 in the US. UK prices have yet to be set, but we suspect it will be in the region of £20 - £30.  They are available later this year.