Better Online Book Discovery . . .
Dear Readers,
Dorothy here.
I managed to find a way home from Oz, but I still haven’t found a good platform to discover great kids books. Rather than a delightful yellow brick road that leads me to amazing reads, I’ve been stuck with a rather dull beige option, which isn’t even tailored to kids books, and the shortcomings of which have been well documented.
Until now. Today, I’m introducing a better online platform to help readers discover great kids books.
Chapter 1: The First Step
Kids books are a trove of wonder and inspiration. The stories enchant us, shape us, and stay with us. They bring a lighthearted happiness, make us cry, and tackle subjects of all kinds with simplicity and insightfulness.
That’s why this platform makes discovering new books simple and fun.
Anyone can use the platform to explore and discover books, and it’s free to create a user account. With a user account, you can also create reader profiles. That way, a parent, for example, can create reader profiles for each child and save book information uniquely to each profile.
After creating my account, I created reader profiles for the Cowardly Lion, the Scarecrow, and the Tin Woodman (they have lots of brain, heart, and courage, but zero computer skills).
Chapter 2: A Journey of Discovery
With my account and profiles created, I can start to save books I discover.
I can add books to wishlists (which, conveniently enough, can easily be shared with grandparents and fairy godparents alike wondering what a child might want for a birthday present).
I can also create custom book collections, like “Family Read Alouds” and “Childhood Favorites.” I’ve been making a collection of books about witches, as I’ve learned it’s quite helpful to know what they like, and especially what they don’t like — see Exhibit 1: a bucket of water.
As the platform is all about book discovery, there are many options for exploring for new books, but my favorites are suggestions from others, site recommendations, reading challenges, and searching on my own.
I’ve discovered some of my favorite books when someone suggested them to me. That’s why when I’m searching for new books, I often start by seeing what others are reading. On the platform, I can follow and connect with other members of the community to get book recommendations and reviews. I can find ideas from friends, critics, authors and illustrators, publishers, and more! I just noticed in my book feed that Queen of the Field Mice recommended a book about bravery, so I’m saving it to Cowardly Lion’s list (despite that shot of courage he got from the Wizard, he still needs regular encouragement).
Site recommendations are another option I turn to when exploring new books. There may not be a magical wizard behind a curtain suggesting what I might like to read, but there are algorithms, and from what I’ve heard, they’re basically the same thing. Robust book tagging captures unparalleled, detailed data about books, which leads to better suggestions.
Here’s an example of the tags for my own book:
Strong female character? I’m flattered. But I’m not sure how I feel about Oz being tagged as an “Imaginary Place.” At least it’s in good company.
With more availability of books reflecting diverse voices and experiences, these data structuring capabilities also include information about book characters, like age, gender, race, and ethnicity, which will assist parents and others making efforts to discover and support books that both reflect their children’s experiences or voices or introduce them to new ones.
Reading challenges on the platform are another catalyst for book discovery. They’ll cover a variety of areas to encourage experiencing the broad world of children’s literature. By the way, the first challenge—an incredibly fun book BINGO—begins August 3, and with a grand prize of $100 toward new books, I’ve got just two words for you: challenge accepted.
While I do enjoy the suggestions and recommendations from others, as you know, I’m kind of a choose-your-own-adventure person, so I find simply browsing for new books on the platform equally rewarding. There are numberless ways to start exploring: by topic, by award, by genre—whatever my mood, there are lots of fun rabbit holes to jump down (but that’s a whole other story).
Book discovery on the platform is amazingly fluid, so no matter where I am on the site — seeing a friend’s latest read, reviewing site recommendations, completing a challenge, or exploring on my own — I can save books to my profiles.
Chapter 3: A New Favorite Book?
When I find books I want to learn more about, I love taking a closer look at their book pages, which are bewitchingly detailed and delightful to view. Authors and illustrators are such a dedicated and talented group, and it’s wonderful seeing their creations shine on a modern platform that really showcases their work.
Book creators are given access to contribute all kinds of information to their book pages—familiar things, like interior page images—but also really unique content, like video interviews, read alouds, and early storyboard and character sketches. Attention-grabbing backdrop images really pique my interest in a book’s content, and I heard another early user was so impressed by the content on a book page that he said it was better than exploring in a physical bookstore.
“Better than exploring in a physical bookstore.”
Authors and illustrators are also provided with personalized profile pages, which I enjoy browsing almost as much as searching for books. I find that seeing and learning more about an author or illustrator naturally makes me more interested in their work.
Book pages can also have enriching content like quotes, insights, and quiz questions. And it’s not just authors and illustrators who can contribute to pages, but users like you and me. “There is no place like home,” is one of my all-time favorite book quotes, so I made sure to add it to its book page—now which book is that again?😉
Users can also suggest discussion prompts and parental guide information for books. Some parents might like to know that in my classic tale, the Tin Woodman chops off the head of a terrible wildcat — that might startle a sensitive reader!
You, like me, will also be relieved to see that a book’s rating is limited to the book’s substance. I always thought it seemed unfair when browsing other sites to see a book’s rating marked down because of issues unrelated to the actual content of the book. Trust me, I’m as upset as the next person about damage during shipment, but it’s not like it’s the book’s fault. Sheesh.
Chapter 4: It’s Reading Time
Once I’ve found my next book to read, the tracking abilities on the platform are truly magical. And I know a thing or two when it comes to magic.
I can track books by reading status: “Want to read,” “Reading,” “Read,” and the much desired “Did not finish.” I can even track multiple read-throughs of a book.
When I’ve finished reading a book, I can record my rating and review for it.
I can choose on a per review and per rating basis whether to make content public or keep it private. I’ll be honest, sometimes I just want to keep my thoughts about a book to myself.
Ratings and reviews can be done at the reader profile level, so I can record the different responses my readers have. For example, Cowardly Lion really loved The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, but Tin Woodman said he just didn’t feel the same connection.
In addition to recording which books you’ve read, you can also record how many books or pages you’ve read or how long you’ve read. So while Tin Woodman and Cowardly Lion are already reading chapter books, Scarecrow is still nurturing his new brain with shorter picture books, and since he reads a lot of those each day, I’m tracking his reading by the number of books he’s read.
You can also add and track custom reading material. For example, last year I gave Scarecrow a custom book I had made on his birthday. He loves to read it, so I added it to his account. And Tin Woodman is really into magazines about healthy cardio, so I track those, too.
I’m not the only user who has loved the flexibility of these tracking options. Another early user who, like me, had searched far and wide for her heart’s yearning — in her case, a tool to manage her family’s reading — exclaimed when she used the platform, “I love it! This is seriously making my dreams come true.”
“This is seriously making my dreams come true.”
I can also set customizable reading goals. I can choose a goal to read a certain number of books, a certain number of pages, or a certain length of time, and I can select the period — days, weeks, months, or years — for reaching the goal. Progress updates keep me on pace, so not even poisonous poppies can stop me from reaching my goals.
I’m careful not to let logging information turn into a chore that detracts from the joy of reading. Instead, I’m really looking forward to creating a record of all the reading we do over the years — the books we read and what we thought of them. I’ve read these reading records can be a priceless keepsake—I wish this platform had been available for Aunt Em to use for my early reading!
Epilogue
We’re all doing more of our activities online these days, a trend accelerated by this unprecedented pandemic—yes, it reached us even here in Oz. But unlike many other digital startup companies I’ve noticed trying to innovate in the kids book space, I appreciate that this platform continues to emphasize the experience of reading from a physical book, or as I like to call it, a “book” book. Not only is it an experience that many book lovers cherish, but research shows it’s actually a better reading experience for kids, and many children’s books are specifically designed to be physical products.
I see it as an exciting advancement at the intersection of technology and art, encouraging the cherished experience of reading from a physical book while applying technology to enhance everything around it.
An exciting advancement at the intersection of technology and art, encouraging the physical while applying technology to enhance everything around it.
I’ve got to run, so I’ll leave the rest for you to explore on your own (but watch for the barcode scanner—it’s my favorite!). I’ve already taken longer than I planned, and it’s time for my book club discussion — virtual, of course — with Glinda and the Good Witch of the North (embarrassed to say I never did catch her name). I can’t wait to tell them about this — they’re both huge book nerds!
Keep reading,
