The secret sauce of the Sora children’s reading app from OverDrive is that is doesn’t just open up the participating school’s digital library content but opens up the OverDrive children’s catalog via the local public library.
No surprise then that the children, suddenly offered a far wider range of books and audiobooks than they would normally have access to, are reading more.
But in fact reading time has almost doubled compared to 2018, as adoption of the Sora app has grown 28% this year.
From the OverDrive press release:
Comparing the beginning of the 2018-19 school year to the end, educators found that students using Sora nearly doubled the amount of time they spent reading per month. Sora’s ease-of-use and gamification inspires students by making reading more accessible, engaging and interactive.
Another key factor contributing to this increase is an innovation unique to Sora: the option for students to add access to their local public library’s digital collection, expanding their selection of age- and grade-appropriate popular ebooks and audiobooks. Students who added public library access in Sora increased the number of books read by nearly 50%.
The news, timed for the FTEC in Miami this week, comes days after OverDrive announced another record-breaking year for ebooks and audiobooks.
