Congratulations to Gail Wihelm, the lucky winner of the Smart TV Time Raffle. And a huge thanks to everyone that participated! Your support helps us provide books to the children that need them most. 

Raffle Description:

All BookSpring Smart TV Time Raffle proceeds will help us deliver books to the right children in Central Texas right in their homes. BookSpring needs help to deliver books directly to children who were expecting to receive them this Spring through schools, clinics, and daycare centers. Learn more about this initiative called BookSpring Delivered, which you can support in many ways in addition to the purchase of your raffle tickets. 

Official Prize:

TOTAL VALUE $2,500

Sony Bravia 55” OLED Smart TV with Sound Bar

&

Visa Card
to design your own
Streaming Video Package

Enjoy an immersive audio-visual experience with this 55-inch Sony BRAVIA OLED smart TV. The powerful X1 Extreme processor provides real-time performance for stunningly detailed images in 4K HDR quality, and Sound-from-Picture Reality technology delivers lifelike acoustics with true-to-life pictures. This Sony BRAVIA OLED smart TV has a 180-degree rotating stand that’s height-adjustable to accommodate a sound bar.

BookSpring Recommends:

But what are you going to watch on this wonderful new television? BookSpring Recommends no more than 2 hours of big screen time a day for kids from 2-8 years old.  Make this time count!  Here are some options to include in your streaming package.

Since 2003, Common Sense has been the leading source of entertainment and technology recommendations for families and schools. With Common Sense Media Plus, you can unlock personalized entertainment picks for kids and expert guidance for parents. While the site is open for free registration, the $30 annual Plus service offers great additional content that supplements the existing search and find reviews that we’ve come to know and love. Read more about this valuable work from a fellow non-profit at: https://www.commonsensemedia.org/plus

With 100s of classic and new movies and series, including content from Star Wars, Marvel, National Geographic, Pixar, and original content, your children literally have the Wonderful World of Disney at their fingertips for only $6.99 a month.

Netflix, with starting prices at $8.99 a month, is not only for grown-ups. Their kid selection is vast, with fantastic movies, like Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse and Bolt, to shows for young kids like Oddbods, Masha’s Tales, and Hello Ninja.

If you have young children, you should already know about the PBS Kids streaming app. For one thing the cost is just right: it’s free! Their app, which you can download on the Apple store, Windows, Google Play, or Amazon, features educational games and a lot of the great, wholesome shows you can find on PBS proper, like Daniel Tiger, Dinosaur Train, and Arthur.  Plus, they’re all available through pictures rather than names, so even if your kids can’t read yet, they can figure out which one is Sesame Street and which one is Caillou.  Make a donation to Austin PBS – KLRU, and get extra content through the PBS Passport app. And keep public television alive in Central Texas!

There are two apps for the Nickelodeon Network. Nick Jr. and regular Nick. Nick Jr. has a lot of toddler and early childhood titles, such as Paw Patrol, Blaze and the Monster Machines, Peppa Pig, etc, while Nick has shows for older kids, like Ninja Turtles, Spongebob Squarepants, as well as some of the shows on Nick Jr.

The Cartoon Network app is a lot like the Nickelodeon app mentioned above. While the app is free, to get the full benefits you have to already have a cable provider. If you don’t, the app will be slightly limited.

In short, this package is designed to help parents, grandparents, and caregivers navigate the wide world of entertaining digital media content available at home through streaming, on-demand, and network television. Enjoy an amazing picture on this new Sony OLED television together with the kids in your life, and don’t forget to turn it off, talk about what you’ve watched over dinner, and take a nice walk outside, and bring a print book to read together!

See more of what BookSpring recommends here:  https://bookspring.org/resources.