Customer Reviews

Story Reader Finding Nemo Book

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I recently purchased this item for my two year old son. I love the fact that it came with the Finding Nemo book(one of his favorite movies)and I purchased a three pack of books including both Toy Story 1 & 2 and Monsters Inc. as well.

The item reads along with the books and some how knows what page your on so even if you skip a page or return to a previously viewed page it reads along correctly. The voice over is great and there are many titles available for this unit.

There is also the option for an AC Adaptor, Headphones, and a Microphone as well. This unit seems durable and closes snuggly with a magnetic attraction. Battery life seems great and the volume can be controlled with quite an extensive and impressive range.

I only knock one star off of the rating as there are many educational toys on the market that offer an interactive experience. I think this item is a great compliment for those items and in no way a substitute.

The books are a little pricey and usually found in three packs which can make it hard to not end up with duplicate titles. All in all this is a great toy/system that can provide entertainment at home or on the go and does offer educational value which of course encourages reading!

I'd like to respectfully disagree with some reviews posted. I searched high and low for a reading toy like this one, where you DON'T have to interact. I just wanted my son (2) to be able to sit and enjoy being read to when I myself can't read to him. This item fit the bill. He just sits and listens and turns the page when it tells him to. I love that he doesn't have to touch an arrow for it to move on...or answer questions with a pen. He just sits and enjoys. Oh and skipped a page? That's okay the story reader picks right back up to whatever page your child has turned to. (GREAT feature!) I feel there's a time and place for the interactive books, but who doesn't just love the pure joy of listening/reading a good story?! One of my own greatest childhood memories was sitting by my record player (dating me I realize) listening to old Disney records and thumbing through the accompaning books. This is just a modern version of that. I'd like to add that we've had our unit for 4 months and it's survived a two year old BOY dropping it, stepping on it, etc. so I feel as though it's of decent durability/quality. I do want to mention that the pages are PAPER though and not laminated card stock, so children must be taught how to be gentle or bye-bye pages. We've not lost one yet to tears or rips, but just a thought! Enjoy!

My daughter received this for her 3rd birthday. She loves to be read to and this was the perfect gift for her. It is very easy for her to change the cartridges and books. I wish the books weren't $20 a 3 pack, but we just got the Dora 3 pack at Target on clearance ($5). The books are durable and the Story Reader is easy to carry for little ones. This is great for all the long car rides we go on, headphones can be plugged into it.

There are instances when our daughter turns the page, and it doesn't register so we have to flip to the previous page, and back again. I rated the educational value a 2 only because it's not interactive, but anything that entices a child to read it a plus for me!

All in all it is a great gift for any kid who loves to read or be read to.

This was bought for my 2-1/2 year old during the winter holidays. He is very active - into sports and cars - and I wanted something for him to be able to sit STILL and do by himself when I needed a break. I tried blocks and other building sets and he just wasn't into contructing, so I decided to try the Storybook Reader (though I was a bit hesitant because we treasure story time at night, and I thought he'd prefer the Reader). Believe me, it doesn't replace you, but it is certainly a life-saver when you need one!

I have one big CON:
-The pages of the books should be laminated. Kids can be so rough with their toys. Notebook-style binding is fine but the pages need to be more durable. They are all bent up now and the Reader can't detect which page we're on.

PROS:
-Cartridges and books are easy to match. An older toddler or preschooler can do it himself/herself.
-There is a place for headphones. My son likes the freedom of adjusting the volume control, which means it's usually loud!
-There is a sound at the end of each page so that a younger child using the Reader will know when to turn the page.

I love this idea and the technology behind it, but really the books should be better quality. They should not be able to be ripped out or bent up like notebook paper. The Reader itself is great. Durable. I tried to self-laminate the of the rest of the books and I was quite peeved at having to modify a product just for it to function properly. Aside from that, my son loves his Reader and we use it several times per day.

Ok, I'm going to show my age, but don't you remember our old books with the 45 records tucked away in a pocket on the back page??? We'd put those on our "too cool" plastic record players and play them over and over again while we listened for the chime that told us to turn the page.
I have to disagree with those that say there is no educational value to this product. Listening to stories is one of the best ways to spark an interest in reading. And the fact that these stories have background music and sound effects while they're being read just make them that much more enjoyable. There's never an issue of your child being on a different page as the reader because this toy always knows what page you're on. It gives your child a sense of independence as well to be able to get through a story on their own.
I absolutely love this product! All three of my boys are big fans as well. We take it on all our road trips, long or short.
The added bonuses are all the great titles they have available for purchase and the best part is this product doesn't scratch like our old 45s did after some wear and tear.

The reader has been pretty fun for my child, though it's been finicky from the beginning. The binding of the books bend and becomes difficult to seat in the reader properly, the pages of the books tear easily and the mechanism that determines when a book is present and the device is open often doesn't know when a book is in place and the device open.

Aside from the mechanics of the product, the stories are often cheezy, over-simplified and poorly read. The overall effect is often to suck the life out of interesting stories.

Great Product for teaching your child how to use and handle books. Grows with them through the years. As a teacher and a mom I love it!

The concept is great, the toy is horrid - we are on our 4th one in 2 years. They just stop working from one day to the next, for no reason. An electrical engineer we know looked at it and said the component just fried, the slightest static shock (as in you walking around with it on carpet) will destroy it.

Then, when you buy a new one, some of the old books will not work with it because they were based on older version of the exact same THING!! Customer service promised to have the headquarters call me. I am waiting. I would like the undamaged books no longer working to be replaced with some that will work. The books are cartridges are immaculate, they should work.

Very frustrating after buying so many books which are so expensive.

I agree with another reviewer, some of the other, more interactive, educational toys, just frustrated my 3 year old. Grandma gave this to her for Christmas and she really loves it. Mostly because she can actually do it without the thing telling her she's doing something wrong. The books snap in, and she usually needs my help with that part, but then she just turns to any page that she wants and it starts. sometimes the page doesn't start fast enough, so she thinks banging on the page will help. The books are too pricey and not very durable, and I wish I could find a few more non-licensed character books (like Dora). Some other systems have better titles. Overall, though I suggest this for kids who are frustrated with all the leapfrog, v-tech stuff out there.

I recently bought this item for my 2 year old only because someone gave her a set of 3 story reader books for Christmas and because it was only $20.

First off, there is nothing really educational about it. It simply reads stories to your child, which is fine I didn't buy it for educational purposes anyway.

Fun, sure my daughter likes it, she loves to be read to.

Durable...no..it is flimsy at best.
We had it for all of about 10 minutes before it stopped working properly. There is no on/off button, it comes on when you open the cover and shuts off when you close it. We have to open and close the cover several times to get it to work, also it has stopped working in the middle of stories.
We've had this for 2 days and have had nothing but trouble with it.

Hopefully I can return this at Target locally so I don't have to deal with shipping it back to Amazon. I might exchange it to see if it is just a bad unit but I have a strong feeling that it is just the quality of the product. It is very cheaply made.

If you really want a good reading product for your toddler, get the My First Leap pad, my son had one when he was little, he's now 7 and my 2yr. old is using it. It has lasted over 5 years and I have never had any trouble with it. The Leap pad is durable, educational and interactive, the story reader is none of these things.