For the grown-ups who read with young children
Children's books are deeper than they look.
Turn children's books into real conversations.
Identity, courage, forgiveness, belonging: the ideas in a children's book are as substantial as anything on a high school reading list, only at a lower reading level. Storytime Guru helps you see that depth and talk it through with your child.
Available on the App Store and Google Play on September 18.
How it works
Open the book, ask the questions, keep going.
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Step 01
Find a book
Browse by theme, or search a title you already own.
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Step 02
Add it to your shelf
See what the book explores before you read it.
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Step 03
Ask as you go
Whether you read to your child or your child reads to you, ask the questions as you go. Tap Go Deeper for the fuller answer, for you.
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Step 04
Mark it read
Your shelf shows every book you have shared.
What's inside
A library built for reading together.
Carefully crafted questions are the building blocks of comprehension.
- Every book in the library
- The full Reading Guide for every book
- Read/Unread tracking across the whole library
- New books added throughout the year
Six books are free for everyone. A subscription opens the rest of the library.
The library
Twelve themes, one shelf.
Every book sits in one of twelve social-emotional themes, so you can pick a story for the conversation you want to have.
Identity, Inclusion and Belonging
Who a child is, and how they find their place.
Emotional Awareness and Regulation
Naming big feelings, and learning how to sit with them.
Kindness and Social Relationships
How children treat one another, day to day.
Courage and Facing Fear
Moving toward the frightening thing rather than away from it.
Forgiveness and Repair
What happens after something goes wrong, and how trust returns.
Responsibility and Accountability
Owning an action, and living with what follows from it.
Rules, Authority and Boundaries
Why a rule exists, and what happens when it is tested.
Change and Uncertainty
Transitions, new experiences, and finding footing in the unknown.
Perseverance and Work Ethic
Effort over time, with setbacks as part of the process.
Curiosity, Discovery and Learning
Wonder, imagination, and the drive to understand or make something.
Friendship
The bond between peers: loyalty, companionship, choosing each other.
Avoidance Behaviors
Dodging a problem, until facing it turns out to be manageable.
Made for the grown-up, not the child
The book stays the book. You stay the guide.
Storytime Guru is not a digital reader. The way you use it grows with the child. At first a grown-up reads aloud and asks three or four questions; later the child reads the book to a grown-up or a peer and leads the conversation. The app sits beside the two of you, never between you.
There are no accounts and no ads, nothing about your child is collected, and what you do in the app stays on your device.
For educators
At home in the classroom, too.
Storytime Guru was built by two former Philadelphia classroom teachers, and its Reading Guides work the same way in a morning meeting, a turn-and-talk, or a thematic unit as they do at bedtime.
Questions follow the K-2 Reading Literature standards, in seven categories, across twelve themes.
See how educators use itGet the app
Start with six books, free.
Storytime Guru is available for iPhone and Android.
Available on the App Store and Google Play on September 18.