Effective Literacy Website #7 by Alison

My last website review will be based on a website called Unite for Literacy (https://www.uniteforliteracy.com). Unite for Literacy is very straightforward; its homepage is their library that contains a wide variety of digital picture books. The best part? It’s FREE and accessible worldwide! You do not need to create an account to access their resources. There are over 400 original picture books, with one fourth written in Spanish. In 2019, Unite for Literacy was honored by being recognized in the Best Websites for Teaching and Learning by the American Association of School Librarians (AASL). There are several reasons why this website received that honor! In addition to hundreds of original picture books, Unite for Literacy also provides audio narrations in more than 40 languages. The audio narrations are expressive, rather than monotone. This feature would definitely engage children of all ages and enhance their comprehension.

Unite for Literacy creates content to represent all genders, races, and ages, in both text and images. This website can be used by anyone and everyone – not just teachers and librarians, but families and children as well. You can use the search engine by typing out a specific topic or word. There is also an option for users to choose a category. I like how there are picture icons for each option. When you click on one icon, it will bring you directly to the list of books under that category and it will also have the name of the category. If you scroll to the bottom of the website, you can find some other helpful links and pages that contain information about their website, as well as a FAQ section. You can also follow Unite for Literacy on different social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Pinterest. They even have their own blog, which you can subscribe to! On the blog, there are several categories to choose from. It was actually very interesting to explore. There is also an option to email a representative if you have any questions or suggestions.

In summary, Unite for Literacy is one of my favorite literacy websites. I am excited to utilize this in my classroom and also with my own family. Their books aren’t too lengthy, and it uses real-life pictures along with large text. Hands down, this is one of my top literacy websites to recommend for everyone! I hope you will have just as much fun as I did while exploring Unite for Literacy. One last thing I wanted to mention was that, while exploring, I read that they are planning to allow individuals to create their own books in the future. Isn’t that neat? Hopefully, someone can write a book that is relevant to Guam! I admire how Unite for Literacy is always striving to improve their website in order to promote literacy. Check out their website now! I guarantee you will love it.