Read Me Stories - Children's books

Read Me Stories - Children's books has great reading support: Before starting each book, kids choose whether they want to read on their own or be read to. All choices are voiced so prereaders can navigate easily. While the narrator reads, words are highlighted in the text so kids can follow along. Once in the Read on My Own mode, kids can always tap an icon to have individual pages read to them. Plus, high-quality narration, music, and sound effects make the stories come alive.

Unfortunately, the stories themselves disappoint. The language, vocabulary, and dialogue are mediocre, and the story lines are uninspired (with a possible exception for the Tuffy series, which is somewhat silly in its approach to fantasy but does manage to hold your interest). And though nothing is inappropriate, some aspects are even downright objectionable. Above all, navigation can be tricky and frustrating. There are no exit buttons once you're in a story; at the end of each story kids must get a grown-up to unblock the screen; and there's lots of content that's tantalizingly visible but only available through purchasing. This digital library may get kids to read a book a day, but what they're reading may be more filler than enrichment.