Disney has created a free interactive book for the iPad as a companion to Steven Spielberg‘s new epic film Lincoln.

Lincoln: A Steven Spielberg Film – Discover the Story is designed to give readers perspective on what it was like when Abraham Lincoln served as President of the United States. It is intended to give movie goers more background on the former president’s life and policies that changed America forever.

The publisher used Apple’s iBooks Author to create the interactive eBook. Aside from Lincoln’s biographical details, it also features behind-the-scenes photos from the making of the film, as well as details about the set and costume designs, and insights from the director. There are also audio and video interviews with the production team, and costume designers. In addition, readers can purchase songs from the soundtrack from the iTunes Store directly from the eBook.

The classic sci-fi story ‘Tron is now available as an interactive iPad app. Disney Publishing released the interactive book app this week, as a follow up to the remake of the ‘Tron film which came out last month.

The $8.99 app includes motion comics of the story adapted from the film, as well as music and photos from the film. The first comic is currently available in the app, and subsequent issues will be available as a free update later this winter.

Since the iPad launched last April, Disney has been embracing the possibilities of turning books into interactive apps. In an interview with eBookNewser, Yves Saada, VP of Digital Media at Disney Publishing, said: “We felt that we were creating a new interactive format, we wanted that format to be as widely distributed as possible so we gave the first Toy Story app away for free. We wanted to show what this platform could do for a book. We created a format that was combining books, immersive navigation, videos, songs, puzzles, reading and games, while keeping the reading experience as the focal point of the product.”

Since the iPad launched back in April, Disney has been exploring how interactive eBook apps for kids. In April 2010, Disney launched an app for its Toy Story franchise aimed at bringing the film to life by taking advantage of this new tool. The Toy Story app includes the “Read to Me” feature in which the app reads the book aloud to a child, as well as interactive games, movie clips, and sing-along songs. Disney gave away the app for free, with the intention of introducing consumers to this new way of consuming digital content.

“We felt that we were creating a new interactive format, we wanted that format to be as widely distributed as possible so we gave the first Toy Story app away for free,” says Yves Saada, VP of Digital Media at Disney Publishing. “We wanted to show what this platform could do for a book. We created a format that was combining books, immersive navigation, videos, songs, puzzles, reading and games, while keeping the reading experience as the focal point of the product.” Read more