Bucks Free Library Introduces Read-Along Audio Books

It's not news to most parents that kids — especially young learners — love to have stories read to them. Now, Bucks County Free Library is introducing a new kind of audiobooks that can do exactly that.

The library system, with seven branches throughout the county, has unveiled its collection of VOX read-along books. Made up of both print and ebooks, the collection features hardcover print books with a built-in audio recording of the story.

Kids are able to simply plug in a pair of headphones or use the built-in speaker to hear a narration of the book as they read it. No CD player or other external digital device is needed. The books can be charged with any standard micro-USB charger.

The Bucks County Free Library system has more than 100 Vox titles, including both fiction and nonfiction picture books. Among them are kids favorites like "Goodnight Moon" and "Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs" and newer titles like "I Am Enough" and "The Legend of Rock, Paper, Scissors."

Many of the read-along books highlight text as the narrator reads, so children can follow along.

According to the library system, studies have shown that read-along books improve reading comprehension, get young readers excited about reading and can help them better understand sentence structure, language flow and syntax.

To browse the full collection, you may search the Bucks County Free Library catalog for "readalong children's books" on its website.

Bucks County Free Library has branches in Bensalem, Doylestown, Langhorne, Levittown, Perkasie, Quakertown and Yardley-Makefield, and is affiliated with nearly a dozen district member libraries.