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    Stories

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    This week’s crop of interactive, narrated stories is quite impressive. With professional storytellers and a humongous number of classic and original stories to choose from, you (and your kids) are going to love these sites.

    		Stories Resource Handout for Classroom or Homeschool: Just $2.00



    Mrs. P5 stars

    "Mrs. P is concerned because fewer and fewer kids are reading these days. Also, according to recent reports Mrs. P has seen, it is becoming harder and harder for many parents to find the time to read to their children." Storyteller Mrs. P (played by actress Kathy Kinney) is my video pick of the day, with her classic children's stories, read along options, engaging personal anecdotes, animated games and clever presentation. If you have a high speed connection, you can turn on more even more animated fun by clicking on Start Here, and selecting options such as "Bookcase titles say funny things."

    Speakaboos5 stars

    Speakaboos is a delightful find, chock full of classic video storybooks read by actors, along with games, e-cards, sing-along karaoke tunes, and printable coloring pages. The stories are divided into Favorites (such as Arthur and Holidays), Fables, Nursery Rhymes, Fairy Tales, Folk Tales and Songs. A useful feature is "More on This Album: Play All" which will queue up all the songs (or stories) in a particular album. Some of the songs are available for free download (to your iPod or a DVD) while others are for sale in the iTunes Store.

    Starfall5 stars

    Starfall offers four levels of interactive reading resources for pre-k through second-grade from ABC's and phonics to read-along plays and short stories. "Every word on the site is clickable and will read aloud. In this way, your child's speaking, reading, and writing vocabulary can grow alongside his curiosity." Although the interactive stories are the star of the show at Starfall, don't overlook the printable downloads which include a Reading and Writing Journal, Reading Awards, Phonics Puzzles, and printouts to accompany many of the stories. They can be accessed from the Download Center link at the very bottom of the home page.

    Storyline Online4 stars

    Storyline Online is a program of the Screen Actors Guild, and features streaming video storybooks read by actors such as James Earl Jones, Amanda Bynes, Hector Elizondo and Melissa Gilbert. The books aren't sorted into categories, so you'll need to scroll through the books to find one that catches your eye. But with choices like "The Polar Express" and "Stellaluna", that shouldn't be too hard."

    		Stories Resource Handout for Classroom or Homeschool: Just $2.00



    Honorable Mentions

    The following links are either new discoveries or sites that didn't make it into my newspaper column because of space constraints. Enjoy!

    BAB Books: On-Line Stories & Resources for Kids

    East of the Web: Children's Short Stories

    International Children's Digital Library

    Story Place


    Cite This Page

    Feldman, Barbara. "Stories." Surfnetkids. Feldman Publishing. 22 Jun. 2009. Web. 6 Dec. 2025. <https://www.surfnetkids.com/resources/stories/ >.


    About This Page

    By . Originally published June 22, 2009. Last modified November 22, 2016.

    Filed Under: Language Arts, Reference, Reading

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