Storytime Guru

Know exactly what to ask your child about every book.

Storytime Guru turns the picture books you already read together into real reading-comprehension moments, with the themes, lessons, and questions laid out for you, page by page.

Beta testers keep the app free, forever.

A FAMILY LITERACY COMPANION

WHAT IS STORYTIME GURU?

The physical book is the artifact. The caregiver is the narrator. The app is the comprehension scaffold.

Many children’s books, though not all, are rich with meaning and life lessons, crafted with real literary care for a young audience. Storytime Guru helps the adults in a child’s life understand and draw out those lessons, so a PreK–2nd grader learns to appreciate and understand literature more deeply. That deeper appreciation is reading comprehension.

Every book in the library has skillfully crafted plots and characters that develop important themes, and all of the guidance is Common Core aligned, so it maps to what your child’s teacher is already teaching.

WHAT COMPREHENSION REALLY LOOKS LIKE

Two ways to read the same Pigeon book.

Reading every word correctly is decoding. Understanding why the story matters is comprehension, and it’s the part a caregiver can nurture in a two-minute conversation.

Surface reading

Pigeon really wants to drive the bus, but the driver, and we the readers, say no, and Pigeon gets upset because he doesn’t understand. By the end he isn’t upset anymore because he sees a truck and now wants to drive that.

Real comprehension

Themes: safety · “no” · boundaries · authority

Through a persistent, tantrum-throwing Pigeon, the reader learns that boundaries exist for good reasons, like safety, and that ‘no’ is a complete, and often important, answer that we respect from the people who care for us.

HOW IT WORKS

You bring the book. We bring the questions.

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Ask the right questions

Each guide gives you a detailed summary, the themes and lessons, and exactly what to ask, and on which page.

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A growing library

Nearing 100 books to choose from, among the most loved and richest pieces of children’s literature, all vetted for meaningful themes.

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Search by theme

Sorted into theme buckets, so whether you want courage or identity, you get a dozen books to choose from.

Browse the full themed library and shop the books through our Bookshop.org affiliate. Visit the Library →

REQUEST BETA ACCESS

Read with us this summer.

We’re running a small, hands-on beta with families and teachers. Tell us a little about your reader and we’ll be in touch about a spot, or let you know the moment we launch.

Free forever for beta testers
~3 weeks, a book or two a week
A quick before-and-after survey

No spam, ever. We’ll only email you about the beta.