Best platform for online reading with kids?

October 23, 2020 11:41 AM

My non-profit runs a reading program where kids ages 6-10 meet with adult volunteer "reading buddies" once a month to chat, do arts & crafts, and read books. In Before times, we gathered in person and had a cart of children's books that kids could pick from to read with their buddies. In Pandemic times I'm looking for an online platform that would allow the kids and adults to have access to a collection of eBooks while meeting remotely over a platform like Zoom, the idea being that we can screenshare over Zoom so that the kids and adults can all see the book.

I've seen OverDrive, Open eBooks, and various other eReading apps, but they all feel a little clunky since it would require the adult volunteers to download a separate app and log into that while also interacting with the kids over Zoom. I may be looking for a unicorn here, but does anyone know of:

1) An eBook collection that is web-based (doesn't require a separate app to be downloaded) - a registration/login process is OK

2) Accessible by multiple people at the same time - either through multiple account holders or multiple people using the same account on different devices (we split the kids up into small groups so ideally we'd be able to have 6-8 groups of people all using the site/looking at different books at once).

3) Has a relatively extensive/interesting/current collection of eBooks

4) Free is ideal (non profit life), but we could potentially budget up to $100 for a subscription service if that's the best option

5) We don't need to be able to download eBooks since we'll be reading them in real time during our meetings, but a download option would be a nice bonus if it's possible.

posted by sleepingwithcats to Technology (5 answers total)

Readeo looks like it's pretty close, but the sessions are one on one. It's also paid ($99/year for 4 accounts) and geared for 0-8 instead of 6-10.
posted by natabat at 12:21 PM on October 23, 2020

I don't think this will meet all of your requirements and I suggest continuing to look for other options but the Internet Archive has a "children's library" of free books that are readable in their BookReader (a very simple page viewer thing) to logged in or not logged in people. Here's their Children's Library. A lot of it is older stuff but they do have multiple languages which can be useful and some of the books, even though old, are classics like A Color of His Own. Open Library is another program of the Internet Archive and they have a K-12 library set of books. However most of those are borrowable (free but requires login and is only available to one user at a time) so might not be what you need.
posted by jessamyn at 12:39 PM on October 23, 2020

Best answer: Epic! It's free, web-based and has a good selection.
posted by chaiminda at 12:44 PM on October 23, 2020 [1 favorite]

Best answer: There's also the International Children's Digital Library.
posted by oceano at 1:52 PM on October 23, 2020

You mentioned you don’t want to use Overdrive because you have to download an app, but my public library’s Overdrive can be accessed through a browser, no app needed, and you can read the ebooks using your browser.
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 2:39 PM on October 23, 2020