In an ideal world, we’d all have hours to sit on the couch reading books to our children. In an ideal world, we’d also have children who are always cheerful and obedient and never have problems with sleeping through the night, toilet-training, wrecking the car, or getting a full-ride scholarship to college either. But since we don’t live in an ideal world (it sounds a bit Orwellian anyway), here’s a website I just discovered. It might be a good option for those times you can’t–or don’t want (perhaps because you are engrossed in a novel of your own?!?)–to sit and read with your kiddos.
www.speakaboos.com is a website that has read-aloud books for kids. You can listen to the books for free or buy and download them, just like Itunes, for 99 cents a piece. Stories are read by “celebrity” authors like Kelly Ripa (sorry, no Zac Ephron yet). The words are printed at the bottom of each page, so kids can follow along as the story is read. Great for those who are learning how to read.
The website has several Arthur books, including one read by author Marc Brown, folk and fairy tales, nursery rhymes, and holiday stories. They add new material regularly. The site also has a fun feature where you can record your voice reading the story. Voila! Mom and Dad are now celebrities too. Just think of yourselves as Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt.
Check it out and let us know what you think . . .
