Website of the Week- Lookybook

Maybe it is the former teacher in me but I love books. And so do my children. We go to the library as often as possible with the largest book bag we can find and always fill it until it overflows. We usually threaten to leave a trail of books behind us Hansel and Gretel style until the nice librarians to offer us another bag from under the circulation desk.

Nothing can replace sitting down and reading a book with your child snuggled next to you but thanks to a new free site called Lookybook, you can now access a wealth of picture books on the computer.  Lookybook wasn’t designed to replace reading aloud to your child.  It wasn’t designed to replace books.  Instead it provides picture books for you to look at so you can find new books and old favorites.

You may be saying, I already read books to my child. Why should read my child books on the computer?

Any chance to read to your child is wonderful. The selection that Lookybooks has is great but by summer it will be even better.  Lookybook currently contains over 200 titles by some of the most popular childrens’ authors including David A. Adler, Tomie dePaola, Gail Gibbons, Patricia Polacco, and our family favorite, Roseanne Thong.  This new site expands its collection daily.  It is expected that over 2000 titles will be available to look at by the summer.

Tech Savvy Daddy likes to compare our home library to the Library of Congress since my classroom books are housed throughout our home.  Despite this, I always find new titles that my children enjoy.  Lookybook has already suggested some new books that I know will become favorites in our house.

Also, if your child is beginning to read like Little Miss Techie, any chance for them to interact with text and pictures will further their reading skills. Reading books aloud to your child helps your child develop their sight word vocabulary that are words they immediately recognize when seen. Reading is easier when a child has a bigger sight word vocabulary. It doesn’t matter how a child learns sight words. But learning sight words comes from repeated exposure to books and words in context.

Additionally, it is incredibly empowering for a child being able to select the books that they want to read. It helps fuel motivation in beginning readers to become better readers and want to read more.

I recently created a Lookybook account and am working on creating a virtual bookshelf of Little Miss Techie and Captain Computer’s favorite books.  This feature enables me to select known favorites or peruse new titles and add them to my virtual bookshelf.  Little Miss Techie can access her favorite books from the bookshelf and take a look at them during computer time, when visiting grandparents, and anywhere else we have an internet connection.  I think we might be accessing Lookybook from airports while waiting for flights while on vacation!

To add books to my bookshelf, I can browse titles, take a look at other virtual bookshelves, or do a search according to keyword, author, illustrator, subject, or genre.  Like NetFlix, Lookybooks will recommend other books I add to my bookshelf based on the ones already there.

So go ahead and read!  Pick up a book in your home, visit your local library, or find your favorite titles on Lookybooks and start creating your own virtual bookshelf.

I can’t wait to see what other titles and authors Lookybook adds to their site in the months to come!