Learning Resources

Digital Literacy Platform to Add 850 Digital Books

• By Sri Ravipati
• 09/07/16

An education technology company specializing in digital literacy and a children’s book publisher have teamed up to build student literacy. LightSail Education partnered with Antares Reading to create more than 850 high-quality, non-fiction digital books for students in grades K–6.

The digital books, available in English and Spanish, will be added to LightSail’s adaptive digital literacy platform by the end of this year. The content will include in-text, real-time assessment and “inclusive illustrations” to engage students with Lexile levels ranging from 200–450. Titles such as Lifecycle of a Frog and My Grandparents will cover a variety of subjects, from ecosystems to biological processes to ancient cultures and more.

The titles were created in collaboration with school districts and reviewed by Sarah Scott Frank, an educator with 15 years of experience working with school districts to improve literacy development.   

“Research shows that even young children are interested in non-fiction. Antares Reading takes kids seriously at a lower reading level, fulfilling their thirst for quality non-fiction digital titles,” Frank said in a statement. “Many students prefer to read about how a rocket ship is constructed than a fictional account like, ‘My First Baseball Game.’”

In addition to the 850 new titles, LightSail plans to release 1,000 new digital books, in English and Spanish, each year.

To learn more about the adaptive digital literacy platform, visit the LightSail site.