| I’m a big fan of supporting authors by buying | | | | easy to read on the screen. If your kids have the |
| their books, but it’s easy to spend a fortune at | | | | writing bug, they can even send in their own stories |
| the bookstore if you’re not careful. At least | | | | for consideration. Hey, who wouldn’t like to be |
| with stories for grownups, it takes several days, or | | | | a published author before the age of 10? |
| at least hours, to read them, but with kids’ | | | | Popular Children’s Stories |
| stories, you’re paying for a book that may only | | | | This site isn’t as fun and interactive for kids (in |
| take a few minutes to read with your children. (The | | | | fact, between the ads and busy pages, a young |
| plus side is that kids don’t mind reading the same | | | | surfer would probably have trouble navigating it), but |
| books over and over!) | | | | it does contain a lot of popular “timeless” |
| To save some money, you can try reading free | | | | stories. You’ll probably find some of the ones |
| kids’ stories online. It can take a bit of | | | | you read as a kid on there (shoot, some of the ones |
| searching to find appropriate stories that are family | | | | your parents and grandparents read too). Think |
| friendly, but as long as Mom or Dad vet the sites | | | | “Hansel and Grethel” and “Betsy Ross |
| first, there’s no reason not to enjoy some of | | | | and the Flag.” There’s quite a selection, |
| the offerings out there. Keep in mind that websites | | | | though, and if you print them off, they’ll make |
| don’t always state the target age group for | | | | for some good bedtime reading. |
| stories they post, so you may have to browse | | | | In addition, the stories are categorized, so it’s |
| around a bit to figure out if the reading level seems | | | | easy to pick out holiday stories, nursery rhymes, |
| right for your kids. | | | | educational tales, etc. |
| To get you started, we’ll look at a few sites | | | | MagicKeys Storybooks for Kids |
| that offer stories for children. | | | | For a more interactive site, head over to MagicKeys |
| Goodnight Stories Kids Site | | | | and let the kids pick out a story and click through the |
| This is a fun little site with stories, activities, and | | | | virtual pages. Pictures and short passages per |
| reading and writing clubs that your children can join. | | | | “page” make the stories read quickly, and |
| The stories are fairly short (even the “long | | | | some of the adventures are even spoken out loud |
| stories” aren’t very long), so they’re | | | | (click the bell to have the lines read to you). |