StorySnacker to Launch in Fall, Funding on Kickstarter Now
Fun New App Offers “Snack-Size Stories” for Time-Crunched Parents
StorySnacker is the brainchild of award-winning children’s book author Erik Slangerup. His new app is designed to give parents more chances to fit storytime into their modern, busy lives with a mobile collection of original, 60-second, “snack-size stories.” Parents on the go will be able to use their phones to read a series of quick stories to their kids—whenever a free minute pops up.
On May 4, 2015, StorySnacker launched a 40-day campaign on the popular fundraising site Kickstarter, and quickly reached 25% of its goal in the first 3 days. Many backers are taking advantage of the offer to access “unlimited stories” for just a $15 pledge—the typical price of a single hardcover children’s book. (After launch, stories can only be purchased incrementally.)
The app’s Kickstarter page makes a strong case for why new approaches to storytime are needed. It features several kids being asked if their parents read to them every day. Answers range from “not that much anymore” to “my mom gets really tired and reads to us a little bit quick.” The video then cites that Americans spend an average of 162 minutes on their phones daily.
StorySnacker is scheduled for release on the App Store October 2015. Designed to offer a true one-minute storytime experience, each story is written to an exact count of 160 words—which takes the average person 60 seconds to read aloud. To create them, Slangerup combined his talent as a children’s book author with his years of experience writing 60-second radio spots during his advertising career. Slangerup calls it “the perfect mash-up of the two kinds of writing I do best.”
Slangerup, who has written traditional books like Dirt Boy and Monsterlicious, has mixed feelings about how technology has impacted storytelling, but embraces new media: “Our phones can be constant interruptions to family time, but they aren’t going anywhere. So why not make them a force for good?” Slangerup adds: “With an app like StorySnacker, our phones actually have the power to turn a spare minute into a magic moment. As a dad, that makes me hopeful.”