Languages
Children’s books in your family’s language: online libraries from isiZulu to ASL
Updated
Several online libraries publish picture books in many languages: StoryWeaver (India and beyond), African Storybook (African languages) and Let’s Read (Asia and the Pacific). Storybooks Canada pairs its stories with audio in English, French and many home languages, and VL2 Storybook Apps tell stories in American Sign Language.
For families who speak a language at home that rarely turns up in reading apps, the libraries below are a place to look. Most can be read online, and several offer saved or downloadable books.
Which library for which language?
| Language or region | Where to look | Worth knowing |
|---|---|---|
| Hindi, Tamil, Kiswahili and many more | StoryWeaver | Readalongs with narration for selected titles; read online or download |
| African languages | African Storybook | Sorted by reading level; the Reader app keeps saved stories for offline reading |
| South African languages | Book Dash, Nal’ibali | Book Dash has wordless books and some signed editions; Nal’ibali has audio stories in eleven languages |
| Asia and the Pacific | Let’s Read | Stories from local communities, on the web and in an app |
| Immigrant and refugee languages in Canada | Storybooks Canada | Text and audio side by side |
| Indigenous languages of Canada | Indigenous Storybooks | Short stories about seasons, school and animals, with audio where available |
| Narration in many languages | Unite for Literacy | English or Spanish text, narrated in many more languages |
| American Sign Language | VL2 Storybook Apps | Signed storytelling with English text, from Gallaudet University’s Motion Light Lab |
| Classics from around the world | International Children’s Digital Library | Older books, browsable by language and even by book shape |
StoryWeaver
StoryWeaver, from India’s Pratham Books, has picture books about everyday life, adventures, science and nature in English, Hindi, Tamil, Kiswahili and many other languages. Because many stories exist in more than one language, a bilingual family can read a story in one language and then switch to the same story in the other. Selected titles have readalongs that narrate the story alongside the text.
Where are stories in African languages?
African Storybook collects books in African languages, sorted by level, and has a Reader app for offline reading. In South Africa, Book Dash publishes illustrated books in English, Afrikaans, isiXhosa, isiZulu and more, including wordless books that a family can tell in whatever language it speaks. Nal’ibali adds audio stories in eleven South African languages, from Sepedi to Xitsonga.
Which libraries have audio?
Audio can help when a parent and child read at different levels, or when the home language isn’t the one a child reads most comfortably. Storybooks Canada puts text and audio side by side, so a child can hear a story in a home language and then in French or English. Unite for Literacy keeps the printed words in English or Spanish but switches the narration into many other languages. Indigenous Storybooks, inspired by Little Cree Books, has short read-and-listen stories in English, French and Indigenous languages.
Stories in sign language
VL2 Storybook Apps come from Gallaudet University and are made with young Deaf readers and their families in mind. Each storybook is its own app, pairing a signed telling in ASL with written English, and some editions use other signed and written languages.
Learning a new language through stories
Some story sites are aimed at children learning a second language. The Fable Cottage retells familiar fairy tales in French, Spanish, Italian and German with slow narration and optional English text alongside, which may be a gentler start for a beginner than for a child already fluent. Little Fox has animated stories and songs for children learning English, organized by level.
Questions parents ask
Will reading in our home language slow down my child’s English?
That depends on the child, and a teacher or language specialist who knows them is better placed to say. What these libraries make possible is reading the same story in two languages side by side, which StoryWeaver and Storybooks Canada are set up for, and many bilingual families read that way.
Where can I find picture books in Spanish?
Unite for Literacy has picture books written in Spanish, The Fable Cottage has Spanish fairy tales with English text alongside, and Storyline Online has filmed read-alouds with Spanish subtitles.
Are these libraries only for reading on a screen?
No. StoryWeaver and Book Dash offer downloads, Book Dash shares guidance for printing, and the African Storybook Reader app keeps saved stories for offline reading.