Reading is such an essential part of any youngster's life as well as a special bonding opportunity for parent and child.  Unfortunately, our hectic lives can make reading to our children difficult at times.  Working late or traveling on business can interfere with your child's special story time...until now.

Franklin Electronic Publishers has created an ingenious way to help you read to your child anytime, anywhere, even when you can't physically be present.  Let me introduce you to the AnyBook Reader!

The AnyBook Reader from Franklin is a small hand-held electronic device which resembles a pen.  This device stores up to 60 hours of voice recordings.  Now, you can read ALL of your child's favorite books to them using just this one handy tool.  Your child or grandchild will automatically hear YOUR voice any time they use the AnyBook Reader.

Just think how great it would be for your child to never miss another one of your treasured story times again.  Their favorite books can now be read to them with all of your special inflections, songs and character voices included.  When you can't be there in person, the AnyBook Reader can serve as the next best thing!

It also couldn't be simpler to use.  I was amazed at how quick and easy it was to record one of Riley's books.  After taking the AnyBook Reader out of the box, you will need to install 2 "AAA" batteries, and you're ready to go!  There's no need for a computer connection or anything like that.

Next, find the sticker sheets included with the AnyBook Reader and a favorite book that you'd like to record.  Each sticker should be placed on one page of your child's book.  After you've stickered each page of their book, then sit back, find a quiet place and start recording.

To record a page, you just hold down the power button for 3 seconds until you hear a sound prompt and the LED light on the pen begins to flash.  Now you are in recording mode.  Touch the sticker on the page you want to record and then hold down the volume up button while you read everything on that page.

When you're finished reading that page, simply release the volume up button to stop recording.  Go to the next page and repeat these steps until you've finished reading the entire book.  Hold the power button down again for 3 seconds to exit the recording mode.

There are 400 recordable stickers and 80 sound effects stickers included with the AnyBook Reader, which means that you will probably get tired of recording long before you run out of stickers!  Just in case you need more though, Franklin currently offers additional sticker packs containing 200 colored stickers and 80 sound effects stickers for $9.99.  The sound effects stickers are neat because they already contain a pre-recorded sound on them and are a great thing to integrate throughout your child's stories, in addition to your narration.

The stickers themselves are reusable and can be gently removed from most pages rather easily.  If you would really like to conserve stickers though, then I suggest sticking them to a larger piece of colored paper and clipping them inside your children's books.  This way, you can use and reuse the same stickers over and over again on different books as your child grows and develops.

The only thing that I didn't like about the stickers included with the AnyBook Reader, is that they were all white, which blends in much too well with the page of a book.  I really wish that the AnyBook Reader's stickers would have been more colorful, so as to be easier to detect on the storybook's pages.

The AnyBook Reader is geared for children ages three and up and is perfect for anyone who would like to read to their child or grandchild more often.  Now your child can hear your voice anytime they want to in any book that is special to them.  No more buying costly recordable storybooks, which are only available in a few children's titles.

You can also use these recordable stickers for much more than storybooks.  Enclose a special message of encouragement in a child's backpack or notebook on the day of a big test or record a well-placed tip on an especially hard math lesson, etc.  With the Franklin AnyBook Reader, the possibilities to create strong personal bonds with your children from miles away are endless!

Disclosure:  I received the AnyBook Reader 60-Hour Edition from Franklin Electronic Publishers, Inc. in order to facilitate my review. No other compensation was received. This product review is based on my own personal experiences with this item and is completely honest and objective.