books

Our longtime readers will understand why we're so excited about Libro.fm's sale of audio books for under $5 each , in honor of Independent Bookstore Day on April 30. After all, in our (gulp) 15+ years online, we've shared hundreds of the…

Black History Month lasts through the end of February, but you'll need to act by Friday if you want to grab free downloads of three important audio books by Black authors. Offered as a gift from Cool Mom Tech-recommended audiobook compan…

I'm among millions of parents all over the country concerned about widespread efforts to ban "controversial" books in our public libraries. Especially when the lists include some of our favorite books , and plenty of them are not "contro…

Lately, a lot of readers have been asking us about apps that let you check out free library books. Or, free e-books to be technical. So here's the info on a favorite of ours, the hoopla digital app . While I love the feeling of being sur…

For those of you who also grew up with Ezra Jack Keats's magical The Snowy Day , you can imagine my thrill at discovering The Snowy Day has become a wonderful opera now available to stream on the the Houston Grand Opera website Even bett…

Nothing compares to having your kid sitting in your lap while you read a book to them , but there's definitely a place for great ebook libraries on my kids' devices too. So when I saw Readeo advertised on my Instagram feed recently, I pa…

Anyone else the escape of audiobooks while we find moments to ourselves? These audiobook apps proved to be the perfect literary lifeline for me while I was stuck at home with my young children during the quarantine, and are keeping me go…

If your goal is to read more in 2020, here's a smart browser extension that could help you save a little money this year, because it shows you what Amazon books are available at your local library. Related: 3 free audiobook apps you shou…

My daughter and I have the same taste in books, generally, so we love sharing anything good we've read lately. That's typically been much easier to do with hardcopy books than digital ones, but now you can set up a Family Library for you…

I'm always on the hunt for YouTube alternatives for my son, and I've just discovered a good one in Vooks , the app that streams animated children's books. If you're wanting your kids to be entertained by something other than toy cars bei…

If you're looking to add some new books to your summer reading list, you'll want to head over to Amazon right now and download the 9 free Kindle books they're offering today in honor of World Book Day. But hurry, you've got about 30 hour…

We've been talking a lot about screen addiction and overuse here over the last few weeks (and well, years), including our Curb Your Screen Addiction series . Well, we recently chatted with author Jake Knapp on our Spawned podcast, who ha…

We've been longtime friends with Jill Krause, founder of the popular BabyRabies.com parenting website, and recently Happy Loud Life , where she chronicles her RV-living adventures with her family of 6, and longtime admirers of her amazin…

Little history lesson for you: did you know that the emojis designs we use today -- and communicate almost exclusively with our tweens in -- originated way back in 1999? Like, before we even knew what a smartphone was? Japanese designer …

This is a sponsored message from WEYV If you've got a separate music app, magazine app, audiobook app, they can certainly add up. Especially when you're talking about media for a whole family. So instead of of flipping through multiple a…

Our Google Home can do all sorts of helpful things, and now it can read to us. That's because Google launched audiobooks , which you can use on iOS, Android, the web, and yes, your Google Home. Related: This app lets you borrow library b…

Mark your calendars for International Women's Day next year, because that's the day when Little Miss Inventor , the newest, coolest Little Miss character from Roger Hargreaves (well, now his son Adam Hargreaves), will be hitting the shel…

We love Levar Burton . Did you ever listen to our podcast interview with him ? He's the best! We love Neil Degrasse Tyson . He's not yet a podcast guest, but we're still hoping, because he's also the best! One thing we're torn on though.…

We're kicking off our Back to School Tech Guide with some of the very best reading apps for kids and whether your kids are just beginning to string together letters to make words or they're tearing their way through Harry Potter for the …

After seeing what Kristen's kids did with Bitsbox , a cool coding subscription box for kids we featured awhile ago (and who was a sponsor over the holidays), my kids are now obsessed with the idea of creating their own apps. In fact, it'…

I will always be a fan of real books I can turn the pages to read while my kids are in my lap, but there are plenty of times when a sweet, entertaining ebook on my phone is a total lifesaver, like the The Snow Fox , which we discovered t…

So what if it's the day before Christmas Eve? That's plenty of time to grab a fabulous gift for anyone still left on your list. (Or, maybe everyone if you're just starting). We put together a bunch of solid last-minute tech gift ideas yo…

Well, we've seen Pride & Prejudice for zombie fans , Pride & Prejudice for doodlers , and Pride & Prejudice for babies too young to know books as anything besides delicious teething toys. So I can't say I'm entirely surprised that someon…

As if free two-day shipping on almost any purchase and the ability to shop for groceries in my pajamas wasn't reason enough to join Amazon Prime, their newest feature, Prime Reading , has convinced me to keep on renewing my membership. P…