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/
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