- NOTE: I know I'm a geek and this has NOTHING to do with being outdoors with children. But I can't resist sharing the info with other parents looking for books to read with their kids this summer ...
PPL's new feature on their homepage - Tumble Book Library (you have to click the link off the library's home page to access it though) - looks really fun for young children. It's a kid-friendly site of children's picture book titles in audio book format WITH the book's actual illustrations. It's pretty cool and includes a lot of titles I recognized that my kids read when they were younger.
We have accessed Rosetta Stone learn a language feature on the library's site and found it to be kid-friendly. It's free (for PPL card holders) and doesn't require you to go to the library to register for it online. My kids haven't made it too far into the Rosetta Stone program but they're thinking about getting back to it this summer just for fun (because they really think it is).
But one of the features that caught my geek-minded attention today was LibriVox. It's a site for adult and young adult readers who want to listen to the classics in audio book format without any hassles (no registration or 'check-out' policy like the library's other audio book site). My kids are getting older and although aren't all that interested in reading a lot of the classics on their own yet, they do like the audio versions.
The cool thing about LibriVox is that all the audio is contributed by volunteer readers. If you like to read and have the basic recording equipment/software (an mp3 player or computer with a microphone) you could volunteer too. And you don't have to record yourself reading an entire book, just a chapter if that's all you want to do.
I've listened to a few chapters from different books on the site and although the recordings are done by volunteers, they're pretty good. The site offers a variety of ways to listen to the recording and by downloading the .zip file of the entire book, you can burn it on CD and take it to go in your car.
My girls liked the Anne of Green Gables movie and wanted to listen to the audio book version this summer. They're participating in our local library's summer reading program and although they plan to read other hard copy books, we thought it would be fun to listen to that one together. And I find that it's nice to have an audio book going in the car because it's a great way to get in some 'reading time' on the way to one of our outdoor adventure locales.
I'm now also thinking it might be fun to find a book on LibriVox's site that needs volunteer readers to record a chapter.
After the kids' experience with their YouTube channel, I can't image recording some audio would be all that hard for them. The trick is finding a chapter from a book on the list that they want to record.
I think it's a great family challenge for us with our summer reading.
Oh and if you have time this weekend, it looks like there are some great children's authors participating in the Maine Festival of the Book today!
- OK, tomorrow I will be back to my regularly scheduled outdoor adventures with kids and crazy pets postings...
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