Tumblebooks Review

Tumblebooks is a great children's story site. You can sit down in front of a computer with your child and either listen to one of the audiobooks, listen and read along to one of the storybooks, or turn off the audio and do a read aloud. The site is user and child-friendly and that simplicity makes it an instant favorite in my book.

MINIMUM REQUIREMENT:
Flash plug-ins required. If you don't have it you can get it here
http://www.adobe.com/shockwave/download/download.cgi?P1_Prod_Version=ShockwaveFlash&Lang=English&P5_Language=English

ACCESSING TUMBLE BOOKS FOR FREE:
You can access the site for free by going through the New York Public Library website. Go to nypl.org, click on NYPL for Kids (listed under Services), click on TUMBLE BOOKS.

There are 6 categories:

1. Story Books-Choose a story and click View Online. The Tumble Pad viewer will open up on the story in a new window. The Tumble Pad viewer gives you a few options: Forward, Back and Pause is self-explanatory. Manual gives you the control of turning to the next page while Auto does it automatically. The little Speaker symbol gives you the option of having the story read aloud. If you prefer reading to your child you can disable the automatic reading by clicking on it once.


2. Tumble Readables-Are stories without pictures for older or more developed readers. The stories do come with text support and audio which is great because it allows older kids with reading difficulties to listen and follow along. But the section is also great because it models how good readers read with emotions and intonations. There is a Menu Options button in the bottom middle of the page. When you click on it once a floating menu will pop up. The options to know are Chapter Menu, Audio Control and Auto/Manual. Chapter Menu allows you to choose which chapter to start from. Audio Control allows you to adjust the volume by adjusting the setting or turn it off entirely by clicking the Speaker symbol. Auto/Manual gives you the option of allowing the pages to turn automatically after it's read or give you manual control of moving to the next page.


3. New Books-Find newly added stories here.


4. Puzzles and Games-Some fun games.


5. Language Learning-A great selection of stories in Spanish. This is great because many of the stories can also be found in English. It can help ELLs connect by familiarizing them with the story in Spanish and then allowing them to practice their decoding in English. They can make their own connections and you can support their learning by helping them make connections.


6. Audio Books-The site has some great classics in audio only format. There is no supporting text. You choose the audio book you want to listen to and the Tumble Pad viewer will open up in another window and play it. The books are broken up into tracks that don't always correspond to book chapters. For example, Alice in Wonderland has 23 tracks but the book only has 12 chapters. I listened to the first chapter and it was read over two tracks. So I assume it's like this for the rest of the chapters.

What I love:
The Simplicity and Ease of Use-While you will need to have Flash to view the most of the books, the site doesn't require any separate downloads to view or listen to the stories. It's just a matter of finding the type of book you want to read (Story Book, Tumble Readable, New Books, Language Learning or Audio Books) and finding a great story for the kids.

Visual and Audio Support-I LOVE the fact that many of the stories are supported both graphically with highlighted text and pictures as well as audio. Some of the storybooks are great for working with younger children, English Language Learners or children with reading difficulties. After clicking on Manual on the Tumble Pad, you can have your kids watch and listen to the story and then have them try reading some or all of it. Clicking on Manual allows you the control of turning to the next page while Auto turns the page automatically.

Bi-Lingual Selections-Some of the stories are in both Spanish and English which is great for English Language Learners and English as a Second Language students.