Two Awesome Library Reading Apps for Kids

And yes, I still believe physical books trump all

Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash

Let the record show that I am a huge proponent of the written word on paper. At this very moment, my Kindle is living up to its full potential as a paperweight. That being said, I can also acknowledge that devices do come in handy in this modern day and age.

There’s a time and place for all tools and I generally turn to reading apps—specifically the free ones offered by the library—to have a boatload of books handy without having to bother carrying them. So the apps I’ll talk about today are chock full of digital books (and other forms of media) that can keep your kids entertained on the road or during travels and vacations. Or anytime when you’d like them to read but might not have a book on hand.

Now your library may not have both of the ones I’ve listed below, but they’ll likely have at least one of them (and others I may not know about!).

ICYMI

• Don’t forget—you still have time to participate in Week 4 of the Summer Reading Challenge!

• If you’ve been watching the Olympics non-stop, you’re going to love these children’s books

Hoopla

My most-used library reading app after Libby, this one can toggle between a general (grown-up) version and kids mode. Turning on Kids Mode (upper left corner) shows only the kid and family-friendly content and strips away content that might be too mature for kids. The app operates similarly to Libby: you borrow titles.

This means that every month you can check out X number of titles per month for a certain period (for me it’s 14-21 days depending on the title). Now, to be super clear, this doesn’t mean that if you return something, the “credit” renews. Nope, after checking out X number of titles (determined by your library), you can’t check any more out until the next month—even if you returned a few titles early. There are some exceptions to this rule: Bonus Borrows and BingePass. Bonus Borrows are just that… these can be borrowed without hitting your borrowing limit. There’s also BingePass which means you can download an entire series using up just one “credit.” (Edit to add: A reader kindly reminded me that another huge perk of Hoopla is that you don’t have to deal with the lengthy delays often on Libby for popular titles. Thanks, Victoria!)

What do I like about Hoopla Kids? I love the titles and the various media formats they provide! They have all the media: ebooks, audiobooks, TV shows, music, and movies. And the titles aren’t just obscure, random ones (although in full transparency, they have those too) but popular ones like Harry Potter, Rugrats, Bubble Guppies, Arthur, etc.

There’s a pretty solid collection of ebooks that read exactly like books. What I mean by that is kids “flip” (swipe) the pages and read the book digitally. I think if you’re planning on using Hoopla for your kids, the best way is to use a tablet because while reading black-and-white text on a smartphone screen is easy, it’s not as fun or easy to read a picture book on such a small screen. There are also Read-Along stories of popular titles where a voiceover narrates the book to kids and highlights each word as the narration continues. There’s minimal animation (just the pages flipping) and no background sounds or music. These are handy if you’re busy and would like your kid to read! I also like that offline viewing is allowed so you can download the title to your app and access it whenever you need (perfect for flights or vacations in other countries).

One thing to note is that on Kids Mode, content can range from ages 0-18 years old. So if you have younger kids, know that they may be able to access teen content. Nothing too egregious (to my knowledge, at least) but still something to keep an eye on if you don’t want your kid to watch/read something that may not be appropriate for them yet.

Kanopy Kids

First of all, Kanopy Kids has Reading Rainbow (and a bunch of other PBS Kids shows), so already a big hit with this nostalgia-crazy Millennial. Kanopy Kids has three major categories of media: Movies, TV Shows, and books.

Even though it says movies, there isn’t a ton available (at least not through my library access). Frankly, I wouldn’t turn to Kanopy Kids for movies. I think it’s better for TV and books.

There are a lot of good options for TV shows on Kanopy Kids. Aside from Reading Rainbow, there’s also Arthur, Little Bear, Redwall, and many others. It doesn’t always have every season of the show but since many kids’ shows are usually standalone episodes, it’s not a dealbreaker.

Now for the category that interests me the most: books. There are lots of really wonderful options (almost entirely Scholastic-published books) and a good mix of titles from new to old. The format of their “ebooks” is interesting… It’s not so much an ebook where you swipe through the pages but rather little productions of books.

Each book has sound effects and soundtracks and many are even animated! Some will have voices reading aloud the text while others have different voices for the narrator and characters. It’s not really reading so much as watching the book come to life. One of the best bits of reading is that you allow your mind to do a lot of the “playing” with the story and images you see. Because Kanopy Kids makes these into little plays, it removes that element of imagination from the reading experience.

So what do I ultimately think about this? Well, I don’t think it’s really reading. But, I do think it’s a great alternative to TV shows (most of these book productions are 10 minutes or less). It’s a great option for kids with short/developing attention spans or if you want to limit screen time. I like to use this app on long drives when I’m sitting in the front seat and my kid can read/watch a book in the backseat without my active participation (aside from switching to the next title). FYI—to my knowledge, these can’t be downloaded so you will need to have WiFi or data to be able to watch them (so not ideal for flights).

Let’s talk…

• Have you used these apps with your kids before? How did you use them?

• What other kids’ apps does your library offer? How have you used them?

• What other fun reading apps do you recommend?

P.S. There’s still time to participate in Week 4 of the Summer Reading Challenge!