How many of you are guilty of ignoring nonfiction picture books and focusing more on the fun, imaginative, fiction books out there? I know I’m guilty of this all the time. That’s why I was really excited to learn about MCPL’s resource called BookFlix.  

Bookflix is an online early literacy resource that pairs animated versions of popular picture books with related nonfiction ebooks. Someone has basically done all the work for me and found a nonfiction companion to a whole bunch of my favorite picture books. What more could I ask for?  

We love Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by Bill Martin Jr. at my house, so why not watch the story unfold and then have fun with alphabet riddles afterward? Oh, and don’t let the fun stop there. The pairing comes with picture puzzles, fact or fiction questions and sequence images to help build reading comprehension. You can even “dive deeper” and explore similar concepts on the web or learn more about the authors and illustrators of the books.  

Another pairing we enjoyed was I’m Brave! by Kate & Jim McMullan and How Things Works: Firetrucks by Joanne Mattern. My daughter loved watching the picture book video, with all its noises, and then seeing real firetrucks in the nonfiction companion. It was a great way to bring the story to life.  

If you’re from a bilingual household, you’ll love BookFlix even more because there are a ton of book pairings for Spanish speaking families.  

I found BookFlix super easy to use and something that would appeal to a preschool, kindergarten, or even a younger elementary age group. All you need to get started is a library card! So check out BookFlix today!