- African Storybook Maker.
Make your own storybook offline, using your own photographs and pictures. Download here
- African Storybook Reader : Open access to picture storybooks in the languages of Africa. For children’s literacy, enjoyment and imagination.The African Storybook Reader has a unique collection of over 1500 approved picture storybooks for early reading in 40 of the languages of Africa. Download
- African Storybook: With more than 7,200 children’s stories in 190 African languages, African Storybook has something for every child, from the very young ones just learning to read to older children. It’s possible to search in various ways, including by language and reading level, and to download freely and print. Most of the storybooks are created or translated by local educators and reflect African contexts. There is also an excellent guide for parents, teachers, and librarians on Preparing to Use African Storybooks with Children. Over 4,000 of these storybooks can be found on the ASb reader app. Selected books can be downloaded onto a personal library for offline
- Amadiora: An African Platform for Digital Comics Facilitating The Visibility Of African And Afro-Descendant Cartoonists. Access here
- Afrocomix: An ingenious app from Leti Arts and is a revolutionary technological step to bringing all African creatives together to provide a hub for the the best Afrocentric content such as comics, wallpapers and animations. Download on Android
- Amazon Kindle : The robust and well-designed Kindle app allows you to read over seven million eBooks online at any time, anywhere. Download: Android, iOS
- Anybooks: This app contains any book that you might be interested in reading.
- Apple Books : The best book reading apps available only on the iOS devices with access to millions of ebooks and audiobooks. Download: iOS
- Audible: Audible is allowing free access to stream an incredible collection of stories for children and teenagers, including titles across six different languages. All stories are free to stream on your desktop, laptop, phone or tablet. Download: Android, iOS
- Book Dash: This South African non-profit gathers creative professionals who volunteer to create new, African storybooks that anyone can freely translate, print and distribute. It creates beautiful, high-quality books for young children in all South African languages. They currently have over 100 titles. Book Dash also has a short guide on Tips for Reading with Young Children.
- Book Dash: BookDash provide free access to high-quality African storybooks that anyone can freely translate and distribute.
- BookBeak
- African app-based platform aggregating African short stories from African storytellers and put them directly in the hands of parents looking for more representative stories to read their children. Download: Apple & Android
- Epic : It’s the leading digital reading platform for kids 12 and under, offering access to over 40,000 high-quality books for kids, learning videos, reading quizzes that safely fuels curiosity and reading confidence for kids 12 and under. Download on Android and IPhone
- FarFaria: Curated library of 1,000s of popular children’s ebooks for kids 1-9. You can choose from unlimited read aloud story books, fairy tale books, bedtime stories, nursery rhymes, song, Spanish books, educational books and more. Offline access to Favorites. Download on Android
- Google Play Books :The app supports millions of ebooks, comics, and audiobooks. You can download books and read them whenever you want to. Download: Android
- Kids Read Aloud & Educational Audio Books Library: It’s an educational App for Preschool Children & Toddlers with 1000+ Books for Just 5$ per month. Download on Android
- Kobo Books : It is rated among the top book reading apps as it works on an hourly update basis and offers books in over nine languages. Download: Android, iOS
- Let’s Read – Digital Library of Children’s Books :
All books on the Let’s Read app are 100% free to read. Your favorite books are also free to download and save for reading anytime, online or offline. - Minno Kids: Enjoy Christian shows, movies, and devotionals that bring faith and the bible to life for Christian families. Download on Android and IPhone
- Moon + Reader : Only available on Android and selected for Editors’ choice for 2018 for the value it offers its users. It supports thousands of books across various genres and over 20 ebook formats. Download: Android
- My Picture Books : Use your own pictures to create picture books, and enhance them with texts or audio. Download here
- Nal’ibali: Nal’ibali believes that well-established culture of reading can be a real game-changer for education. Nal’ibali promotes reading and writing in mother tongue languages. Nal’ibali has free to download stories for children and teenagers.
- Nook by Barnes & Nobles: This app supports an online repository of over four million ebooks across several genres (fiction + non-fiction), magazines, comics, and graphic novels. Download: Android, iOS
- Okada Books : Developed in Nigeria, it’s a wide collection of Afrocentric books that is just as impressive as the Africa-focused features it packs. Available on Android
- OverDrive : You can borrow ebooks, audiobooks, and even videos from your local library’s digital collection. OverDrive attracts support from across 40,000 libraries worldwide, making it one of the best book reading apps available on your fingertips. All you need is an active account with the supported libraries or institutions. Download: Android, iOS
- PocketBook Reader : A free books app for reading ebooks, magazines, comics, articles, and much more. It supports nearly 26 ebook and audio formats and ensures to offer an ad-free experience. Download on Android or IPhone
- Radish : The first three chapters of a book is free, and the next chapter becomes ‘locked’ for a week. After the week is over, they are ‘unlocked’ and remain free. Android & IPhone
- Read Along has an in-app reading buddy that listens to your young learner read aloud, offers assistance when they struggle and rewards them with stars when they do well – guiding them along as they progress.
- Read Aloud, a reading app for kids that works offline. The app listens to the learner and teaches them how to well pronounce Download here (Android)
- ReadingIQ : A comprehensive digital learning library app for kids ages 2 to 12, to perfectly align with your child’s reading ability and grade level. From beautifully illustrated picture books, popular series, and comic books, to chapter books, graphic novels, and books on every academic subject, ReadingIQ is the anywhere, anytime personal learning library that helps your child grow as a reader. Download here
- Roundafire – South Africa’s First Multicultural Reading App with fun and educational storybooks from toddler to primary school years. Download via Google Storeor Apple Store
- Scribd : The app supports millions of ebooks, audiobooks, magazines, comics, and sheet music. The genre diversity and the availability of updated and latest articles make this app worth a try. Download: Android, iOS
- Starfall It’s Fun to Read : The activities at Starfall.com motivate through exploration, positive reinforcement, and play. With a basic understanding of letter-sound relationships, your child is ready to explore a variety of genres and topics that will expand reading vocabulary, comprehension, and world knowledge. The games and activities within demonstrate the joy of reading through rhyme, alliteration, spelling patterns, and word play. An AutoRead feature to model fluent reading, which can be disabled once your child is able to read independently. Download here
- StoryWeaver: More than 19,000 stories in 234 languages. StoryWeaver has a special page on Reading at Home during the Coronavirus school closures.
- The Early Literacy Resource Network: It provides links to research and resources on licensing, policies, creation, and use of high-quality children’s materials in the global South. The Teaching Literacy page provides information for teaching reading and literacy skills. Access Good Stories Don’t Grow on Trees: A Guide to Effective Costing of Storybooks in the Global South.
- Vooks: A kid safe, ad-free streaming library of read aloud animated storybooks. Download on Android and IPhone
- Wattpad: It connects a global community of millions of readers and writers through the power of story. Download on Android and iPhone
We hope that one of these 37 apps and websites would satisfy your needs to access African books or original stories for your kids or teenagers. If you know any other platform with African content or stories for kids or young adults, please do let us know in comment.