Before the pandemic, literacy levels were already in decline. Now with the education sector struggling, can we utilise a new eBook service by Nimble Stories to rediscover ‘Reading Is Fun(damental)’?
Scholastic US research indicates that of children who had read an eBook, 26% of boys and 16% of girls said they were reading more books as a result. National Literacy Trust research found that boys were significantly more likely to say that they read on screen (65.7%) than in print (55.4%) outside school.[1]
To help tackle falling literacy levels and utilise the reading skills and motivation benefited from eBooks, ‘Nimble Stories’, a new eBook start-up company is launching a crowdfunding effort on Thursday, 4 March 2021.
Nimble Stories is an easy eBook subscription service for Schools, Parents and Guardians, providing short stories and children’s books – perfect for learning, fun adventures and bedtime reads. Nimble Stories will be releasing new titles every week, meaning you can always find something new – across both fiction and non-fiction categories. With unlimited downloads, your subscription makes sure the fun never stops. There’s no limit or allowance to worry about – just complete access to the entire Nimble Stories’ library, as if it were your own. All eBooks are easy to read, available offline and can even be printed at home or in the classroom.
“As a father, Nimble Stories is something I’ve needed for a long time. When teaching my son or reading a book to him, I always found it a struggle to find more and more new stories, or titles that would interest him.
What I needed was a whole library of books, that was easy to navigate and didn’t cost as much as a normal or standard eBook subscription – just something for short stories.”
– Kevin Palmer, Nimble Stories Founder
Literacy Statistics [2][3]
The longer children keep an enjoyment of reading going, the greater the benefits are in the classroom. 10-year-olds who enjoy reading have a reading age 1.3 years higher than their peers who do not enjoy reading, rising to 2.1 years for 12-year-olds and 3.3 years for 14-year-olds.
Children born into communities with the most serious literacy challenges have some of the lowest life expectancies. A boy born in Stockton Town Centre (an area with serious literacy challenges in the UK) has a life expectancy 26.1 years shorter than a boy born in North Oxford, UK.
Children who enjoy reading and writing are happier with their lives. Children who enjoy reading are three times more likely to have good mental wellbeing than children who don’t enjoy it.
3 in 5 children enjoy reading but after six years of increasing reading enjoyment levels, children and young people’s reading enjoyment actually decreased last year.
As well as specialising in short stories and children’s books, another aspect that set’s Nimble Stories apart from other eBook subscription services, is the ability for subscribers to earn money and contribute their own literary work through Nimble Stories’ Authorship Program.
“We believe everyone has a story to tell, and we want yours to help entertain and educate.” – Kevin Palmer, Nimble Stories Founder
[1] “The Impact of ebooks on the Reading Motivation and Reading Skills of Children and Young People” (files.eric.ed.gov)
[2] National Literacy Trust (literacytrust.org.uk)
[3] National Literacy Trust (literacytrust.org.uk)
Useful Links
Media Assets – www.nimblestories.com
Preview Crowdfunding Page (Link Expires Thursday, 4 March 2021) – www.indiegogo.com
Crowdfunding Page (Live Thursday, 4 March 2021 – 8AM GMT) – igg.me
Social Media Accounts
Instagram – www.instagram.com/
Twitter – twitter.com/
YouTube – www.youtube.com
Contact Details for Media Enquiries
Email: kevin.palmer@nimblestories.com
Mobile: +44 (0)7875 200 833
