Activity Description
I explored the website Story Box Library which presents Australian children’s books in video form read by Australian storytellers. Access to the website is provided to library card holders of my local library, the State Library of Tasmania, and forms part of their e-collection. Titles can be searched for from within the Story Box website or the library catalogue.
I viewed four stories whilst navigating the site, some I discovered by scrolling down and seeing what was available in the themed lists on the homepage, some were suggested in the ‘More Videos’ section of already viewed stories and found through direct searching. There is also the option to filter searching by a range of ways including by age, story length and theme.
Each story has a page that explains what the story is about and its credit details. It is clear from the language used on the page that Story Box Library is geared toward adults using the site with children, rather than children navigating the site independently.
As the story is read music or sound effects are heard, but none of the text is visible. As the text is not seen there is less emphasis on the development of print conventions and awareness, and letter knowledge (Ghoting & Martin-Díaz, 2013, p. 30).
Story page – Littlelight (Story Box Library, n.d. a)
How was the activity relevant to your professional practice?
I currently manage a photographic library for a Tourism marketing organisation and so I have not professionally encountered products like Story Box before. I found the layout and design of the site to be consistent and visually pleasing. I would recommend the site to friends with children as a supplementary reading activity but would hesitate to say it replaces being read to and actually seeing the book.
Each story has an activity related to it, allowing listeners to reflect on and understand the themes of the story better. As the website explains ‘Activity Time is designed for use by families to help them and their children connect with the themes and characters of each story’ (Story Box Library, n.d. b). The activities I looked at were appropriate to the target age range of the story and had clear written or video instructions. I also found reviewing these activities useful to generate my own Storytime activity ideas for my first Assignment for this subject where I designed a Storytime program for migrant preschool children.
What did you learn?
The use of this website would require adult guidance, especially for the completion of the associated activities. There is a function where playlists can be set up, so once that is done children would be able to use the site relatively independently.
Knowledge gaps
Overall I found the website easy to use and had a good range of titles for different age groups. I was pleased to find a story read in multiple languages, but I did not find a way to search for stories in languages other than English. Hopefully this search filter is added in future.
I feel Story Box Library would be good as an alternative to television screen time, but it does not replace in person storytime. As Davidson et al. comments the need for an adult reader and mediation through questions about the text cannot be overlooked in relation to children’s language and literacy development (2020, p. 2).
I am unsure why the animated illustrations are shown and not any of the text. I do wonder if the site purposely does not want to replicate the physical book experience too much as each story has a link to the Booktopia listing to purchase the physical book.
References
Davidson, C., Danby, S., Ekberg, S., & Thorpe, K. (2020). The interactional achievement of reading aloud by young children and parents during digital technology use. Journal of Early Childhood, 0(0), 1-26. https://doi.org/10.1177/1468798419896040
Ghoting, S. N & Martin-Díaz, P. (2013). Storytimes for everyone!: developing young children’s language and literacy. American Library Association
Story Box Library. (n.d. a). Littlelight. https://storyboxlibrary.com.au/stories/littlelight
Story Box Library (n.d. b) What is Activity Time? https://storyboxlibrary.com.au/faqs/what-is-activity-time