Farfaria

Farfaria is an app that is essentially a digital library that holds over one thousand books for children and it keeps growing. Children can pick from any genre to read and the great thing about these books is that children can either read it or even have it read to them as an audiobook. There are even some ebooks available in Spanish but the selection is small. There is even a sing-along section for some books as well. There are different “lands” that the student can choose from such as “fairytale falls” and “bedtime bluffs” that has different genres of books on each land. This makes the experience more interactive for the children and more engaging for them to be able to choose the books they want.

The price for the app is the first month is free then every month its $4.99. For a lifetime subscription its $74.99. There is even an option for teachers who can buy it for $20.00 per device a year or buy it for $350.00 per classroom for a year or $1,500 for the entire school per year. A librarian can talk to the principle or other administration about the benefits of Farfaria and if they are willing to purchase it.

A child would use this app by opening it up and looking at the twelve different lands and choosing which land to go to and reading the books featured there. They can either read the books themselves or have it be read to them. They can highlight words and turn the pages as they go along. This is a great app for a family on the go who doesn’t have time to pack books and the child can easily access it on Apple, Android and Kindle devices. Every story is marked with its reading level as well so it makes it easy for children to find the level they read at.

The app is extremely easy to use. There isn’t any videos or interactive animation on the app so children just simply turn the pages as they read. There is no verbal instructions though on the app so parents may have to guide their young children through it.

I would recommend this app and I think it’s a good deal for the entire school to have it for a year and see how it works out. I don’t think $1,500 is that bad for the entire school to have access to the app and I think how engaging the app is set up I believe students will read more because of it. Since there is over a thousand books and counting, there will never be a time children will run out of books to read on this app so I think it’s worth the price.

As a children’s librarian I would use this in a group setting in the school library with everyone using an iPad or a kindle to follow along. Every week we would go to a different land such as “Classics Grove” or “Adventure Island and I would incorporate the theme of the land along with the story I read to them. This may be best for a small group since in a large group I may not be able to watch everyone and see what they are really following along or playing with a different app. I would even like this app just be installed in the iPads or e-reader devices at school libraries in general so students can easily pick it up and have an array of stories to read during SSR.

Link to FarFaria: https://www.farfaria.com/