Do you know what a Wonderbook is? Last month, I was pleasantly surprised to find a selection of these wonderful books on the shelves in the Children's Department at the Tomball Library.
Wonderbooks are read-along books that combine the text of the book with a read-along recording all in one bound book. In short, it's a printed book with a ready-to-play audiobook device inside. Kids press PLAY to read along with the book, and they can also switch to Learning Mode for some additional literacy learining and fun!
Wonderbooks are similar to the older style books on tape (where you have a separate cassette / CD that you have to play on your own device). But again, Wonderbooks have the player with speaker combined with the hardbound book, usually right inside the front cover. The controls are easy for kids to use and include a play button, reverse/fast forward, a reset button, and a headphone jack. 
All four of my kids are highly proficient readers, but I still read aloud to all four of them ALL the time. Face it, you're never to old to hear a readaloud, especially at bedtime. (Sometimes I even read aloud to my husband, and he often reads aloud to me.) My whole family cherishes books and great stories! That's why I was so happy to stumble upon these Wonderbook treasures. When I want my children to just sit and follow along in the book while its being read alound (but when I don't want to do the reading aloud myself because of... well, chores), Wonderbooks to the rescue!
The Tomball Library didn't have a huge collection of Wonderbooks, but we checked out 3 and left about 20 more on the shelves. The books we saw were popular, modern titles that we were already familiar with, and they all looked brand new.
The caveat? These bad boys are a pretty penny to replace, so make sure you're keeping them in a safe spot at home so you can return to them to the library when they're due!
