An exciting new app allowing children to digitise their own stories and share them with friends, is the brainchild of two Northern Beaches mums aiming to spark renewed passion and interest in literacy.
COVERED. spoke to the creators of Littlescribe and found out more about this new path to encourage kids and drive better literacy standards.
Child authors by the hundreds and thousands and every Australian school child writing an original book, this is dream of Littlescribe founder Jenny Atkinson.
Jenny, from Manly Vale, and her business partner, primary schoolteacher Alexi McDonald, from Frenchs Forest, have the support of Minister for Education and Pittwater MP Rob Stokes, the NSW Minister for Innovation and Better Regulation Matt Kean and Manly MP James Griffin, who all attended the app launch, in Manly.
The mums met as Lexi taught Jenny’s daughter Caitlin, a pupil at Manly Vale Public School. Jenny developed the app after Caitlin asked her to publish one of her stories and she found there was no easy way to do so. Seeing no solution available she conceived Littlescribe, an app allowing kids to digitise their work, or even print a copy.
After discussing the business concept with Lexi, the two decided to work on the app together with the development supported by a grant from Jobs for NSW.
The app – Littlescribe – allows kids to write and draw their own book, then photograph and collate the pages and add it to their own private digital book club or make it available for all Littlescribe members. There is also the option to have the book made into a hard copy.
Jenny says the Littlescribe mission is for every school child in 2018 to write, read and share their book. “By creating the world’s first library of books written by kids, for kids, we inspire a nation and become literacy leaders,” she adds.
More than 350 teachers have signed up for the app across the country, including Manly Vale Primary School, allowing Littlescribe to connect with more than 15,000 students.
HOW IT WORKS
- Start with pens, pencils and A4 paper. Now write and illustrate your book.
- Use the Littlescribe app to take a photo of each page; it is automatically put in order.
- Now use the edit tools to crop rotate and edit each page to create the desired outcome.
- Save to your library and you now have a digital version you can share via your bookclub.
- You can buy a version and it can be printed, packed and posted home – it’s a real-life book. Printed books start at 12 pages and costs start from $12.49 for a single book. Schools can buy in bulk to save and can have individual books for each child printed, packed and posted for just $7 per book.
Link to the original article: https://www.coveredhub.com.au/the-stories/child-authors
