Playaway Products has a mission: to make the best digital content available to young people around the world. The Ohio-based company has three revolutionary devices that do just that: the award-winning Wonderbook read-along, the Playaway audiobook, and the Launchpad tablet. All are preloaded devices ideal for students, library patrons, and others to share and circulate. Now, with an expanded Wonderbook read-along catalog that just hit 1,000 titles, there’s more to discover and share than ever before.
Creating easy-to-use technology is at the core of Playaway Products’ strategy. To that end, the user friendly Wonderbook read-along device occupies a unique space in the market, marrying print and audio in a compelling, new way. The Wonderbook is a print book with an embedded audio player that’s permanently bound to its inside cover, and allows users to access children’s audio titles from top publishers like Penguin Random House, HarperCollins, Hachette, and many more.
As Playaway Products CEO Gene LaMarca explains, the company’s read-alongs pair audio with print in a way “designed to improve literacy skills without needing access to Wi-Fi or downloads.” And, with the company now boasting more than 1,000 titles to choose from, LaMarca says the expanded library “represents our unwavering commitment to bridging the digital divide and making world-class content accessible to all.”
The Wonderbook read-along catalog solidifies Playaway Products’ position as a market leader in the space. Wonderbook has picture books, leveled readers, chapter books, comics and graphic novels, nonfiction, Spanish-language titles, and Wonderbook Creations. Many are titles users won’t find anywhere else. Wonderbook’s award-winning and bestselling titles include hits like El Deafo by Newbery Medal winner Cece Bell and Berry Song by Caldecott Medalist Michaela Goade.
Another Wonderbook specialty is the variety of ways it allows children to interact with prose texts. Kids can press play for Read-Along Mode to engage with books in a traditional fashion, or they can switch to Sing-Along Mode to enjoy musical storybooks. The third option is Learning Mode—a feature exclusive to Wonderbook—which allows kids to experience a narrator-led question and answer session that will help them engage with books in a way that boosts comprehension and inspires conversation. This Q&A format, featuring open-ended, educator-vetted questions, encourages critical thinking and motivates kids to keep talking about the book they just read. This format also provides valuable lessons to parents and caregivers about how to talk about books with kids. Learning Mode also promotes bilingual learning by offering interactive question and answer sessions in both Spanish and English.
Wonderbook has been proven to enhance comprehension and recall of books while building confidence and enthusiasm around reading. Additionally, the device charges in one hour and, once charged, delivers up to 10 hours of play, which allows for roughly 50 listens.
For LaMarca, the key is ensuring every reader “can find something that resonates with them,” he says. “We believe that access to a variety of voices and stories is essential in fostering a love of reading and promoting lifelong learning. By reaching 1,000 titles, including award-winners, Spanish, and more, we’re supporting our local schools and libraries in their mission to inspire and educate through the power of read-alongs.”
