Parents' Guide to Booksie

Many stories on this site may interest kids, even with its simple design, and while kids can flip through their pages, the illustrations and layout often aren't particularly dynamic. Booksie doesn't offer many bells and whistles -- finding things to read can involve a lot of scrolling because the site navigation is at the top of the page above a long list of books. There isn't much information about the organization behind Booksie or even a detailed explanation of what general content is available on the site. Also, individual stories often don't include an age or reading level recommendation, or a description of what the story is about, which would help kids figure out which selections they'd find most appropriate and interesting.

On the plus side, though, while Booksie doesn't really emphasize it, some items appear to have been written by kids. This might inspire some readers to work on their own stories, and dozens of kid-friendly reading selections are available on a variety of topics on the site, so with some digging, visitors should be able to find things to check out. Booksie's intent is certainly admirable -- there's no cost to access items, and kids aren't bombarded with ads. Essentially, it's a respectable resource for reading material -- just with somewhat basic descriptive and design elements.