LeapFrog Tag Readers Jump Off Library Shelves

The retail price of reading, at least with the aid of a LeapFrog Tag Reader, is somewhere between $39.99 and $54.99 online. But use your library card in place of your Visa and the system is free.

One of the latest electronic additions to the ’s collection, 17 LeapFrog Tag Readers are available for check out at all three library branches.

The readers were added to the collection in September 2010 and have been checked out more than 250 times in the last 10 months.

“We added this to the collection because it was the next innovation of the LeapPad reading system,” said Jamie Morris, CMPL community relations specialist. “We had some people inquire about whether we had this item available and so we looked into it to see whether it would be worthwhile to add to the collection. It has been pretty popular so far.”

Morris estimates each reader has been circulated about 13 times, which she said is “a really good turnaround” by library standards.

There are six different LeapFrog Tag Readers currently available, with each featuring different titles.

From the popular Nickelodeon stories, such as Dora and Diego, to Disney, Star Wars, Spider Man and classics like Dr. Seuss, the readers offer a variety of tales for early readers.

The variety is a feature mother Rachel Bostic especially appreciates.

"They are great," Bostic said of the readers. "The library loans them out with a bundle of books, so you're not stuck with the same one. My kids love them."

For those unfamiliar with the Tag Reading System, the “readers” are optical pens that can read aloud from specially designed books. The pen can be touched to any word in the book and the word will be said out loud. The pen can read one word of a story, or the entire tale. It can also interact with pictures in the books and be used to play reading comprehension games.

The readers are still a popular library item and often need to be placed on hold to ensure checkout.

Tag Readers can be checked out for one week.