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Reading
VL2 Storybook Apps
VL2 Storybook Apps are illustrated digital books that pair signed storytelling with written text, made by Motion Light Lab at Gallaudet University.
Most titles are in ASL and English, and a handful of international editions use other signed and written languages. Stories range from animal adventures to everyday and factual topics. A child can follow the story through the signing, then link what happened to the words on the page.
- Ages
- Young and emerging Deaf readers; shared bilingual story time
- Works on
- App
- Topics
- Reading, Languages
- Languages
- American Sign Language, English, Other signed-language editions
- Listed
- 2026-10-11
What kids do
- Watch signed storytelling
- Follow the English text
- Replay a signed passage
- Choose an edition in another language
Who it suits
Intended for young and emerging Deaf readers and for families sharing bilingual story time. Fit depends partly on picking the edition that matches the child’s language background.
Notes for parents
Each storybook is its own app, and device requirements differ from title to title.
What you need
- A device that runs the chosen storybook app
In these guides
- Children’s books in your family’s language: online libraries from isiZulu to ASL: Online libraries of children’s picture books in Hindi, Kiswahili, isiZulu, French, Indigenous languages, American Sign Language and many more.
More Reading
- Epic – Kids' Books & Reading: A digital library where children browse stories and nonfiction, listen to Read-To-Me books and audiobooks, and look up words with an audio dictionary.
- Reading.com: A parent and child go through scripted phonics lessons together, followed by decodable stories and practice games.
- Reading Eggs: Pre-reading, first reading, systematic phonics and later comprehension are split into separate programs aimed at different ages.
- Teach Your Monster to Read: Children design a monster and take it through games that match letters to sounds, blend words and read sentences.
- Hooked on Phonics Learning: Guided reading activities come with an ebook library meant to go alongside the lessons.
- Teach Monster: Reading for Fun: Recipes, signs and instructions are the reading material in a village adventure where helping characters earns books for a monster’s shelf.
- Vooks: Animated storybooks with narration, where each word is highlighted as it is read aloud.
- Endless Reader: Animated words are built letter by letter, dropped into short sentence puzzles and then acted out in a little scene.