As a small child, there was nothing more exciting for me than going to the public library and selecting the chosen few hardback picture books (from the thousands of book choices) to carry back home with me for the week.
Fast forward to today… Onemorestory.com is a fabulous site that features an online library of classic and contemporary children’s book titles and brings the books directly to your computer screen. The site has won accolades from Parenting Magazine and has been named as one of the Top 10 Best Digital Resources by the School Library Journal.
The target reader is 2 to 9 years old. For kids who want story time, the site offers narrator mode where words light up as the voice over reads the story (musical accompaniment and sounds effects included). For kids who are learning to read, an “I Can Read” mode mutes the sound but offers assistance with sounding out the words when the child encounters difficulty.
A comprehensive list of books is available here, but additional books are being added to the library at a rate of one book a month. Popular, beloved titles include The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats and The Pokey Little Puppy by Janette Sebring Lowrey.
Take a sample tour here. So fun! Reminds me of an online version of the discontinued PBS show Reading Rainbow but more personalized.
A three month subscription costs $15 and a year subscription costs $44. Subscriptions can also be gifted. (What a great gift idea for the holidays!)
I have fond memories of the public library as a child, but with the changing times, it begs the question… What does the future hold for public libraries? How will digital distribution affect libraries as we know them today?
