shadowing for the first time, or that they were able to involve more children, including those that need books in audio format or other accessibility features. “One school mentioned that they were able to look at the illustrated books in amazing detail within a library lesson, as each student accessed a copy on their own device and could zoom in to see the intricacies of the illustrations. Others have shared the books on whiteboards for a group to look at together. We’ve been thrilled by these comments and are very happy to be committed to providing the same free access for the 2026 and 2027 awards.”
That innovation is part of the appeal for Sora users, allowing them to adapt and utilise it in ways that suit their classroom dynamics. The results have seen hundreds of Carnegies’ shadowing groups make use of the platform, and Sora (and its public library equivalent) was able to reach beyond the groups themselves. Ros says: “It’s wonderful that people are still accessing the books, even now that shadowing has officially ended. Throughout the official shadowing time period, around 2500 shadowers made use of the collection and there were over 12,000 checkouts on the shortlisted books. We were also able to offer the winning title for the writing medal, Glasgow Boys for unlimited use across Sora and Libby (the Public Library platform) for the two weeks following the award, and we saw thousands of checkouts on that title across the UK during that time.”
Making the most of the platform Ros says that Sora’s approach to reading and literacy has been built on an ethos of delivering inclusion for all. From curated collections and audiobooks to built-in
Autumn-Winter 2025
accessibility tools the platform helps readers connect to books that they will love. “Sora is a fantastic way to increase accessibility to books. As well as offering audiobooks (through a great built-in audiobook player with adjustable settings), and read-along e-books, Sora also offers the ability to change the text size, the background lighting and the font (including an Open Dyslexic font). Along with this, readers can access word definitions and pronunciations and have sections read aloud to help with processing more complex writing. Sora can also support screen readers where needed.
“Sora has a very engaging and user- friendly interface, and this includes curated collections on the Explore page. These collections can be set up in a variety of ways. For example, to promote a particular genre, linked to a theme (e.g. Earth Day) or to highlight a specific format. Within our shared collections, these are updated monthly, and therefore many different titles are promoted to readers, allowing them to discover authors and books that they may not have known about. Within a record for each title, Sora will suggest similar books and once a reader starts borrowing, it will also recommend titles based on
their borrowing history. And of course, we can then use all the borrowing data to make sure that the collections are being developed in line with the interests and needs of the students.”
For schools looking to make the most of the platform, Ros has some simple advice – make sure students are aware of it. She says: “Promote, promote, promote! Making sure that students, staff and parents are fully aware of Sora, it contents, and its features is the most important thing.
“There is so much scope for Sora to be fully integrated into school life (curriculum use, form-time reading etc.) and to be used at home for the whole family (e.g. audiobooks in the car), if people know about it. We have a huge range of free promotional resources available to support schools with this, including social media graphics, posters and bookmarks and many of these can be edited to drop in a choice of covers and the school’s name.”
And promoting the platform in the spaces where students are already accessing books is another key strategy, with Ros urging school libraries to be raising visibility as well as linking to the teams that deliver SEN and ALN provision within the school. She says:
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