(Vooks, 2025, 0:32)
One increasingly popular digital literature format for younger audiences is the animated digital storybook. These stories are, ‘conveyed to an audience through the skillful use of media’ (Alexander, 2011). Animated digital storybooks are a hybrid of video, narration, animation and written text, offering children an experience that combines reading with audiovisual storytelling. Vooks is one such platform that animates children’s picture books. The program was initially offered as free for educators during its early years, it has since transitioned to a discounted model for teachers, with some titles also available free on YouTube. According to Huan, “animation can engage children and sustain their motivation as an effective learning tool’ (2020). Animated digital story telling is an example of how digital media can be used to enrich the reading experience for children.
Vooks’ catch phrase is ‘storytime brought to life,’ (Vooks, 2025) which reflects their objective of increasing children’s engagement with picture books. They offer a curated selection of popular picture books as well as texts written specifically for their platform. Examples of popular titles include the Curious George series by Margret and Hans Rey and Llama Llama Love to Read by Anna Dewdney. Each story is animated, professionally narrated and has the addition of light background music.
From a literacy perspective, Vooks is a cross between literature and passive media. The visual modality supports meaning-making, particular for visual learners who find it difficult to engage with traditional text picture books. The use of narration adds tone, pitch and rhythm which help children with their reading practice in areas such as fluency. This multimodal storytelling can help develop comprehension and engagement.
Once a story has been selected, it plays automatically similar to a video. This highlights one of the key limitations of the program. Due to the automated page turning and the narration, children have limited opportunities to control the pace or actively construct meaning. Traditional picture books provide the opportunity to control the pace, which allows time for asking questions and pausing for discussion. These crucial conversations foster a deeper understanding of the text and increase comprehension. Animated storybooks run the risk of simply becoming entertainment unless a parent or teacher is able to facilitate deeper connections through constructing meaning and encouraging comprehension. Without support the active engagement activity turns into a receptive activity which can raise concerns around screen time and literacy skill development.
Vooks does attempt to address these concerns. Gong & Levy suggest that animation can enhance children’s engagement by making stories more fun, however it is crucial to capture their attention to the text plays in their reading (as cited in, Arslan-Ari & Ari, 2021). Vooks incorporate the text from each story book, ensuring it is always visible on the page as well as highlighting the text in sync with the narration. This strategy of highlighting can help encourage tracking however younger children in particular, may still focus primarily on the animations (Arslan-Ari & Ari, 2021). Vooks also address the need for adult facilitation of activities by providing supporting resources for educators including lesson plans and discussion guides. Vooks emphasise that their program is complementary to print rather than a replacement.
Vooks can be seen as a middle ground between other examples of digital story telling that focus on different key elements of narrative. Programs such as Storyline Online, focus less on animation and place more emphasis on the oral presentation and the use of famous celebrities to create engagement. Comparatively, media such as the Inanimate Alice novel experience, incorporate interactivity and user decision-making as a key feature that are used to promote active engagement with the story. There is a fine line between telling an interactive story and giving the reader too much autonomy over the story, this is where some interactive programs blur the line between story and game, turning the ‘audience into a game player’ (Yip, 2022). Vooks is more visually engaging than the simple readings of Storyline online, but less interactive than programs such as branching narrative digital storytelling present in Inanimate Alice.
Vooks and similar animated storybook programs represent a significant shift in how we define and deliver literature to young readers. Whilst the stories on Vooks are not interactive, their multimodal approach can support children’s engagement, comprehension and can make the stories more accessible for young readers. When used effectively with adult scaffolding, these digital texts can be a positive tool to integrate with literacy development.
References
Alexander, B. (2011). The new digital storytelling : Creating narratives with new media. ABC-CLIO, LLC.
Arslan-Ari, I., & Ari, F. (2022). The effect of visual cues in e-books on pre-K children’s visual attention, word recognition, and comprehension: An eye tracking study. Journal of Research on Technology in Education, 54(5), 800–814. https://doi.org/10.1080/15391523.2021.1938763
BradField Narrative Designs Inc. (n.d.). Inanimate Alice [Website]. https://inanimatealice.com/
Huan, R. (2021). Evaluating Child Engagement in Digital Story Stems Using Facial Data.
ProQuest Dissertations & Theses.
SAG-AFTRA Foundation. (n.d.). Storyline Online [Website]. https://storylineonline.net/
Vooks. (2025, March). Vooks Explainer Video 2024 (60 s) [Video].Vooks.https://www.vooks.com/
Yip, D. K. M. (2022). Between passive viewing and active choosing in storytelling. Human factors in communication of design (Vol. 49, pp. 65–69). AHFE International. https://doi.org/10.54941/ahfe1002037