Business Insights Unveiled: Louise Baigelman of Storyshares

More companies are springing up to create reading materials specifically for Gen Alpha audiences, like Storyshares, which offers books written by young people themselves.

Louise Baigelman | Founder and CEO Intro: I run Storyshares, a literacy company dedicated to supporting and empowering striving adolescent readers.

Choosing books at the right reading level can help your child get better at reading — learn to enjoy reading. Books that are too challenging can discourage kids. Books that are too easy don’t give enough opportunity for practice and growth. Follow these steps to find books at the right level for your child.

When teens struggle with reading, getting them to sit down and actually do it can be challenging. But it doesn’t have to be a battle. Use these strategies to encourage your teen to read more.

Louise Baigelman has loved books since she was a child. “Any walls that my parents could turn into bookshelves, they did,” says Baigelman (SED’11). But she also learned early on that many people didn’t have the kind of access to literature that she had.

“Being chosen as a 30 Under 30 for my work with Storyshares is so exciting," Baigelman said in a press release. “It means a lot to know that others in the field agree that we are on to something here. We know how much of an impact Storyshares can make, and feel energized by this vote of confidence from others.”

As a young college graduate working for Teach for America, Louise Baigelman ’09 was struck by a prevalent problem in low-income schools: students both struggled with reading and dreaded it. As the cofounder of “Story Shares” — a digital library that provides age appropriate reading materials to lower level students, aiming to get them excited about literature — Baigelman’s efforts have reached students in 44 states and 26 countries, according to Forbes.

Consider the amount of text you’ve encountered today: signs, instructions, emails… this article. Imagine not being able to read any of it.

Founded by Haverford native Louise Baigelman, Storyshares helps boost literacy rates by supplying students with age-appropriate stories they actually want to read.

Episode 54 brings us an excellent conversation with Story Shares Founder, Louise Baigelman. Story Shares is a nonprofit organization, dedicated to dreaming up a new shelf in the global library filled with diverse, compelling, and accessible books to engage & inspire the millions of underrepresented teens and adults and transform them into readers.

When kids have trouble with reading, chances are they’re not thrilled when it comes time to sit down with a book. Traditional books can be hard to get through. The dense text or the number of pages can lead them to feel bored, frustrated, or even embarrassed. But kids still need to read — even more so if they struggle with it. When kids avoid books and don’t practice reading, it only gets harder to build reading skills. The good news is that there are options outside of the classic novel or textbook.

Many professors, even at elite colleges, also report that today’s college students have limited vocabularies compared to earlier generations, and they cannot analyze complex concepts. “By the time they get to college, these students have developed workarounds for reading full-length novels or texts to access information, and they have lost the habits required to sustain reading as a meaningful practice,” Louise Baigelman, founder of Storyshares, a mission-driven publisher that is addressing global illiteracy, confirms to Parents.

"Developed in partnership with Storyshares, a literacy company focused on providing new content to empower and support reading growth for older students, 95 Readables chapter books are available in classroom sets of five or six copies of each book."

"Storyshares is set to spark creativity and inspire literacy with the launch of its 7th annual Story of the Year Contest, running until January 13, 2025."

"For me, the most motivating force is getting to see the transformation that happens when reluctant readers discover the joy of reading—when they can finally find stories that resonate with their interests and identities and begin to rethink their identities as readers."

A few months ago, Gov. Maura Healey announced “Literacy Launch,” an initiative to improve early literacy education “from age 3 to grade 3.” While commendable and necessary for this younger subset of students, this initiative only addresses a piece of the puzzle.

"I sometimes joke that I am an “accidental entrepreneur” and that Storyshares is an “accidental publisher.” It was a fortunate series of events that led me to build Storyshares, a small company which has already had several phases and which has become the defining purpose of my career."

Storyshares seeks to raise reading levels of forgotten tweens, teens and adults: Across the nation, reading and literacy proficiency is at an all time low. One program seeks to change the narrative.

What functional illiteracy feels like for teenagers.

For adolescent students, although they need to learn the same skill sets as elementary-school students to become strong readers, how they build those skills needs to be different.

"Storyshares is building the first shelf in the library for those millions of students who are being overlooked; to reimagine the experience for older students learning how to read."

Learn about the Storyshares approach to diverse and accessible libraries on the EdTech Insiders podcast!

"Learn about StoryShares and their wonderful high interest/low reading level books."

"At Storyshares, we are not selling a product, we are providing a solution to a problem that is massive and yet all-too-often overlooked and ignored."

"Dr. Jennifer McCarty Plucker, Director of Learning and Development with Mackin in conversation with Sarah Hartley from Orca Book Publishers and Louise Baigelman from Storyshares around supporting adolescent readers who are still emerging in their literacy skills."

"Until just a few months ago, there were no suitable or effective 'learn-to-read' books written for older students. As more age-appropriate content becomes available, we need to create a new shelf in the library filled with books that are culturally inclusive, intriguing and accessible for students at any intersection of age and reading level."