Reading Rainbow: Skybrary

Title: Reading Rainbow Skybrary

Bibliographic information:

Creator: Reading Rainbow Inc

• Language: English, Chinese, Dutch, French, Spanish and German, Italian, Japanese, Russian

Reader's Annotation:  Take a look - the whole world can be found inside a book!  That’s what this app aims to show children with a mix of narrated stories and videos which bring reading to life.

Interest Level: Ages 1-9+

Awards, if applicable: N/A

Play summary: The first time you register for the Skybrary, each child creates a unique id, and picks three “Favorite Things”.  Then, they are free to explore the seven floating islands: Animal Kingdom, Action Adventures and Magical Tales, Awesome People, Genius Academy, Music Mountain, My Friends and Family, and National Geographic Kids.  On each island is a series of books that a child can read alone or have read to them by a professional (often LaVar Burton).  There are some minor animations in the stories.  Also available is a series of over 150 Field Trips, which depict the real-life places and things inspired by the story.  When the child is done reading the book, they can return it by placing it in their backpack at the base of the screen.

Critical review:

This app is gorgeous, with striking visuals, wonderful book narration and a wide variety of supplementary materials which brings the world of the books to life.  The backpack system of selecting and returning books seems to be easy to use, and the floating island navigation system helps young readers select future books in an appealing way.  

Why include it?

The Skybrary exists to teach children that reading is fun - that there is a whole world that can be open to them if they just take a look inside a book.  And I think this app succeeds at that admirably, with some systems for evaluating which books children enjoy and complete, and offering supplementary materials to bring those books to life