Wonderbooks! Am I talking about books with super powers? Did I make up that word?
Yes, books are wonderful and yes, they can teach you new skills (powers); but actually, no I didn't make up that name. Wonderbooks and Vox are new items that you will see in the children's area of the Monterey Public Library. These are children's books with a built-in digital audiobook player on the cover. These are picturebooks and chapter books that allow children to follow along with the words on the pages. Connecting text with the audio component can increase literacy and exposure to new words. We're excited to connect digital and analog in a way that is accessible and fun for our youth to explore.
Just like Betamax, audio cassettes, VHS, and Laserdiscs before, Compact Disc players are seeing a decline in distribution. They have been removed from vehicles and are harder to come by these days as portable devices. Discs in our audiobook collections can be easily scratched or damaged - and when one disc breaks in an audiobook set, it's like tearing out the physical pages of a book! Just like our Playaways, the VOX & Wonderbooks will have a headphone jack to use if desired, but you can also use the built in speaker.
So if you're looking for new audiobooks for youth, please try out a Wonderbook or VOX book. We'd love to hear what you think about them!
Warmly~
Brian
