Chester County Library patrons now have free access to new children’s e-reading technology made available by the Pennsylvania Department of Education, the library announced Tuesday in a news release.

BookFlix, an online e-reading program from Scholastic that pairs classic fictional storybooks with similarly themed nonfiction e-books to make reading more engaging for children ages 3 to 8, can be accessed from anywhere patrons have an Internet connection.

“The State Library is excited to support access to BookFlix, which is a great tool for learning and growing reading skills,” said Stacey Aldrich, state librarian for Pennsylvania.

Through programs like BookFlix that build early reading and comprehension skills, libraries can help Pennsylvania achieve one of the highest literacy rates in the country through increasing basic literacy, one of the five essential literacies promoted by PA Forward, an initiative of the Pennsylvania Library Association, the release said.

BookFlix is made available through POWER Library, Pennsylvania’s online resources.  Children will be able to watch their favorite books come to life on screen, then turn the electronic pages of an e-book to discover real-world facts and satisfy their curiosity about the world around them, the release said.

 Offering 105 multi-media fiction-nonfiction pairs, of which more than 30 are available in Spanish, the BookFlix pairings include: Click, Clack, Moo: Cows That Type with Let’s Visit a Dairy Farm; The Snowy Day with Snowy Weather Days; and Happy Birthday Moon with The Moon.  With additional pairings set for release in the future, BookFlix will continue to provide fresh content to early readers, the release said.

Designed to provide an interactive experience, the unique features of BookFlix include a “read-along” option that provides word-by-word highlighting so children can follow along as the fiction video is narrated and the nonfiction e-book is read aloud; narrated text and definitions of key vocabulary words to support beginning and reluctant readers, as well as English Language Learners; educational games and activities that encourage children to show what they have learned and to reinforce early reading skills; biographies and interviews that introduce young readers to their favorite authors; and safe, age-appropriate web links to encourage children to explore other topics that pique their interest.

To use BookFlix, grab your library card and head to the nearest library or visit www.ccls.org.