Storia

© 2012 Scholastic
Windows, Mac OSX, iPad, Android, Kindle
Teaches: reading, compression, spelling, language
CTR Rating: 90%
Editor's Choice

CTR Review

Scholastic's answer to Amazon.com is Storia (http://www.scholastic.com/storia), a book-centric leveled children's ebook store targeting a variety of screen types and sizes, both computer or tablet. For the iPad version, which we tested, you first download the app, which includes five free books including a Goosebumps, although every opportunity is made to get you to sign up for a Scholastic account. We tested the samples and found all aspects of the Storia experience to be solid and easy to use. Features include the ability to quickly jump between shelf and list view, so if you have a lot of books you can browse your titles alphabetically. Other nice touches include the ability to switch skins. The books look as if they are scanned versions of the printed pages. Once a book is downloaded, it lives within the app, along with a customized dictionary. Features include some excellent navigation features, silky smooth page turning and a no-frills dictionary system. Some of the books are marked with a lightning symbol, which means they have been enhanced with word puzzles or some other type of comprehension game. The design is clean and responsive throughout. The books look as if they were digitized directly from their printed counterpart, complete with the warning not to buy this book if the cover is missing (good luck with that one). Other features include the ability to highlight sentences or take notes that are saved with the book. Of course, the strength of any ebook delivery system is the library. In that department, few can match the resources of a company like Scholastic. We counted well over 1,000 books, sold for about $7 each. Limitations include an inability to search the text within the books. Record keeping features include the ability to track the amount of time a child spends with each book, see how many pages they've read, and how many minutes they spent reading each day. Parents can set up individual bookshelves for each of their children and purchase new eBooks. In order to make this product Scholastic Book Club friendly, the system rewards teachers with points. Disclaimer: Warren Buckleitner, CTR's Editor is a paid columnist for a Scholastic Magazine (Parent & Child).