When my kids were small, we had dial-a-story at our library. You simply dialed the number and someone read you a story over the phone. Now there's YouTube, but who wants their child surfing through the list of unmonitored videos?
There is now an alternative.
If you haven't visited the UK website called Smories.com, you're missing an exciting new adventure into publishing on the web. At Smories, you'll find original stories for kids read by kids. There's even an i phone app so that your children can listen/view the stories from a cell phone. Smories is an independent project started by two London-based writer/illustrators.
At the home page, you'll find photos of the young narrators. Hover over a photo and you'll see the name of the story and the author. Click on the photo and there's the story on video--straight from the home of a child. Stories are monitored and there are no inappropriate, offensive, or harmful elements. Just kids reading good stories to other kids.
Most of the narrators are British and consequently read with an accent, but the site plans to add more American narrators beginning in August.
If you're a writer, there's a link to submit your story. Author retains all rights except the right to publish the story as a narrated film on their website. The website is still fairly new, and only the best 50 stories submitted per month will be published. Beginning in August, Smories plans to add one story each day.
Check it out and let me know what you think.
Very bananas
7 hours ago
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Unfortunately my kids were not impressed. They wanted to know why they couldn't see the pictures. Of course they are very active boys with short attention spans, so I'd be interested to hear if girls tend to like it better.
ReplyDeleteHi Steph, Yes, I can see how the boys would not be interested in just a face. I wonder if that would change with age, or if perhaps a different venue, like being cooped up in a car for a couple of hours would make a difference. I don't know that there's any way to tell whether the reader/listeners are girls or boys. I did tell another friend this weekend who has three girls. I'll see what their thoughts are. But they are a few years older, too.
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