One of the coolest websites ever created for children, families, and classrooms

A Storyboard by artist Irisz Agocs and author ako

It’s called Storybird (www.storybird.com), and its tagline is “collaborative storytelling for family and friends.”

It’s a website that allows users to create the stories for picture books alone or collaboratively with a friend or family member, using illustrations provided by various artists. 

According to Storybird, “making stories can be social, fun, and easy. Stories are the currency of life, particularly in families. Parents entertain and educate their kids through stories. And kids contextualize and imagine the world through narrative. It’s how our brains work. For us, the goal was to design a service that made storytelling effortless.”

Here’s how it works. A user sets up an account, browses through the work of available artists, chooses an illustrator that he/she likes, and begins writing. A user can add or delete pages; a title page (which can be edited, of course) is immediately added each time a new “book” is created. The works can be created alone or in collaboration with friends or family members.

Works-in-progress are placed under a user’s “Unpublished Storybirds” list and finished pieces are saved under the “Published Storybirds” list. Users can also browse through other works on the site and create a “Reading List.”

According to the site, “making, sharing, and reading Storybirds online is free and will always be free. Printing and premium services—when we introduce them later this year—will have a fee associated with them.”

An entire website devoted to the joys of words, and art, and creation.