Bookboard Wins Gold, Joins Elite List of Top Gifts for the Holidays

Bookboard today announced that they have been named a 2013 National Parenting Publications Award (NAPPA) Gold Winner, recognized for its outstanding eBook service that’s designed to keep kids reading.

The National Parenting Publications Awards (NAPPA) is one of the most respected awards programs in the family market. NAPPA enlists a panel of independent, expert judges and parent testers who carefully evaluate hundreds of submissions. Only the best-of-the-best are chosen to receive an award for quality, innovation, and entertainment and educational value. “We know how hectic the holiday season can be for families, so NAPPA has taken on the task of helping busy parents find the perfect gift,” says Julie Kertes, NAPPA General Manager. “Our judges gladly do the legwork of vetting each product, making shopping easy and efficient.”

Bookboard is a unique eBook service for children that is designed specifically to motivate kids to read more. As kids read, they’re rewarded by unlocking new books to add to their collections, inspiring them to come back to unlock the next story. This digital innovation around encouraging kids to read, free of in-book gaming bells and whistles, is one of the company’s major points of differentiation among industry competitors.

“Our approach has been to limit in-book interactivity to focus on text,” Nigel Pegg, Bookboard co-founder commented. “More than ever, we want kids to build traditional literacy skills, with the ability to focus, lean in, and bring stories to life with their imagination. We’ve seen plenty of examples where interactivity can actually distract from reading.”

To execute on this unique approach, the company has built a system that progressively introduces titles to kids over time, rewarding their accomplishments by unlocking new books chosen based on their current reading level and interests.  It’s a system that was designed in collaboration with their real-life librarian, Cen Campbell, who curates all of Bookboard’s content, and parents have called it “shockingly effective” in encouraging kids to keep reading. Bookboard also offers a library of over 400 titles for kids to discover, and are adding more every week.

Bookboard requires no purchasing, downloading or managing of separate books – kids get the power to drive the experience of choosing what to read, and start reading instantly, making it a perfect holiday gift for any child. Bookboard is available for purchase today for as low as $4.99 per month on Bookboard.com. Starting in October, Bookboard will also be available for gifting –just in time for the holiday season – a gift of reading for one full year for just $50.

Bookboard’s Key Features:

• Ever-growing library without the hassles of downloads and payments.  Kids are empowered to choose from a huge selection of books and start reading.  No need for ongoing purchase appeals to parents or waiting for lengthy downloads!
• Incentives to keep kids reading.  As kids read, they’re rewarded by unlocking new books to add to their collections – and they’ll keep coming back to discover the next story.  As the reader’s interests and reading levels change, Bookboard also changes with them.
• Thoughtful librarian delivered instantly to your home.  Bookboard suggests additional stories based on what children have been reading, right when they’re most interested.  At the core of the service is the selection of books, which is curated by a real librarian and personalized for individual readers.
• Optimized reading experience for both children and parents.  Bookboard emphasizes the importance of co-reading and story time, the interactive experience of parents and children choosing books together, and the simplicity of finding and unlocking new books together.
• Special features just for parents.  Parents can suggest categories of books, and gain insight into their child’s reading with fun progress reports on the amount of time spent reading, the number of pages, titles of books and more.

To sign up for a free trial of Bookboard, visit https://bookboard.com/.

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About Bookboard

Designed to motivate kids to read, Bookboard offers a digital library subscription with over 400 books for kids up to age 12 to discover, unlock, and collect. The service grows with kids’ reading level and interests, and reinforces the experience of story time that instills a love of reading in kids. Bookboard is run by tech-savvy parents who value reading and comprehension skills, yet understand the importance of keeping your child entertained. The parenting experiences of Bay Area tech veterans from Adobe, Macromedia, Leapfrog, Scholastic, Apple, Intuit and Visa have inspired everything you see in Bookboard, and continuing refinements to come. For more information, please visit https://bookboard.com/.