Amid the coronavirus pandemic which led to the shut of schools and all educational institutions worldwide, Amazon’s Audible, a digital audiobook distributor recently launched a new service offering free audiobooks for children and students who are staying at home due to the lockdown.

The app provides a collection of audiobooks in six different languages streamed on computers, smartphones, and tablets and access to which has been made completely free using the Amazon Prime Video app.

According to the Audible app, it will available, “For as long as schools are closed”.  The free audiobooks are divided into several sections like Littlest Listeners, Elementary, Tween, Teen, Literary Classics, Folk and Fairy Tales for All, and five other categories for French, German, Italian, Japanese, and Spanish audiobooks.

Some of the available audiobooks include Winnie the Pooh by A. A. Milne, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne, The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling, Hollow City by Ransom Riggs, Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, The Little Mermaid and Other Stories by Hans Christian Andersen.

Some of the audiobooks are even narrated by celebrities like Scarlett Johansson for Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Thandie Newton for Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre.

Parents and their children may browse through Audible Stories’ catalog or search to check if the book they are looking is available or not. To listen to audiobooks, which come with a synopsis and reviews, they will simply have to click or tap on the ‘Start Listening’ button. Once the audiobook is playing, they may choose to rewind or forward by 30 seconds, adjust the recording’s speed and can jump to different chapters.

“We hope that Audible Stories will offer children — and everyone — some respite during these unsettling times,” said Audible in its announcement of Audible Stories.’

Also read: HRD Ministry launches #StayHomeIndiaWithBooks initiative