Do you have children who speak or are learning Italian? This post is for you!

This Sunday 28 January 11am to 11.30am at Tūranga, we are holding a special bilingual English and Italian Wā Kōrero Storytimes, and we would love you to join us (don’t worry - Italian language skills are not required).

As a librarian with Italian ancestry myself, I couldn't resist this opportunity to share with you some of the Italian gems you can find in our collections for young Italian speakers and wannabe-speakers.

Stories on LOTE4Kids

This is a fantastic digital collection of over 1500 children's books in Languages Other Than English, including about 70 stories in Italian. New books are being added all the time and are available both in Italian and English. You can read the stories by yourself or listen along.

Harry Potter eAudiobooks on BorrowBox

Calling all babbani (Muggles) and not! BorrowBox is one of our popular eAudiobook platforms for both children and adults. Almost all the content is in English, but there is a special treat for Italian language lovers: Harry Potter eAudiobooks in Italian read by Francesco Pannofino, who is the official Italian voice actor of none other than George Clooney and Denzel Washington. Having listened to both Stephen Fry’s version of Harry Potter in English and Francesco Pannofino’s in Italian I have to admit that Pannofino gives Fry a run for his money.

eMagazines on OverDrive/Libby

There are over 120 Italian eMagazines on OverDrive/Libby. To whet your appetite, here are some of the titles that are aimed at children:

If you prefer PressReader, you can find most of the same titles there too.

Videos on Just for Kids

Beamafilm and Kanopy have a selection of Italian streaming movies and TV shows. These however are mostly directed at an adult audience. Fear not, though - Just for Kids gives you access to programmes such as Muzzy Teaches Italian, which was developed by the BBC and can be used to teach some 1200+ words in Italian to children as young as two. It employs a natural immersion approach that mimics the way the child learned their first language, (Muzzy is also available on Kanopy Kids).

Just for Kids also has some child-friendly documentaries about Italy.

You can access all these eResources for free from home with your library card number and password/PIN.
Don't have a library card? You can join online on the spot and start using our eResources immediately.

This is just a quick peek into the Italian gems available for kids in our eResource collections. Have you found others? Tell us in the comment box below.

And we really hope to see you at Tūranga on Sunday 28 January from 11am to 11.30am at our bilingual English and Italian Wā Kōrero Storytimes. 

Ciao!!