Deepening kids' love of reading
Banging your head against the wall trying to get your screens-obsessed child reading on their own?
Having trouble sifting through the endless stream of children’s literature to find the books that will help your super reader soar to new heights?
Even after 15 years helping literacy educators use technology to support learning, I felt the same way as I struggled to help my older son learn to love books in spite of a reading-specific learning disability and tried to help my always-reading younger son branch out.
So, I teamed up with data scientist Kathleen Perez-Lopez to found Mia Learning in 2017. Since then, we've built software in collaboration with top educational researchers, teachers, librarians, and creative writers, winning the Most Promising Innovation Prize from Booz Allen Hamilton and federal R&D funding.
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Virtual conversations and real books
Secret Agent Mia's Book Club brings Mia Learning's award winning conversational artificial intelligence software directly to homes for the first time, enabling kids to choose and own new books each month that are perfect for them while expanding their interests, increasing their motivation, and deepening their love of reading.
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Deeply grounded in research, developed with top experts, Mia Learning's software is already proving highly effective in schools. National Science Foundation-funded study shows Mia boosted students' motivation at a 32% annualized rate, benefiting both struggling and gifted readers.
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How it works
Kids talk with Secret Agent Mia, their loveable voice chatbot, to get personalized recommendations, receive copies of real print books each month, and reflect on their reading.
Engaging voice conversations
On a laptop, tablet, or phone—your choice—kids talk to Mia, and she understands them and speaks back (like Alexa or Siri) through a totally private and secure website. They love accompanying Mia on secret missions to defeat Dr. Boredom.
"It’s the coolest when kids see Mia as this character that they identify with, who’s listening to them and interacting with them in a very concrete, realistic way. It’s something that hasn't really been done before." - Chris Hils, Director of Programs, Treehouse Books
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Recommend, Read, Reflect Cycle
Mia gets kids eyes off the screen and into a book in just two twenty minute conversations each month through the recommend, read, and reflect cycle.
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1. Recommend: AI linked to our experts' knowledge about reading, learning, and 10,000+ books helps Mia give deeply personalized recommendations that reflect each child's unique interests, challenges, abilities, and dreams.
"I really appreciate a tool that helps parents to find books that are going to match their particular interests and proclivities, and that include some recently published books maybe we have never heard of but children are very eager and excited to read." - Nell Duke, Professor, Literacy, Language & Culture, University of Michigan
Eliza, 7, explains how Mia helps her discover unexpected new favorites
2. Read: Mia delivers new print copies of two books kids choose from Mia's recommendations to their home each month, and kids can't wait to read them.
"I love that Mia guides my child in picking books and that she always regularly has new ones she will read and learn from about without me having to worry about whether I’ve paid enough attention. She’s loved all the books Mia helped her pick." - Rachel Houghton, Parent
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3. Reflect: Mia talks with kids again after they've read, helping them reflect on their experiences and offering personalized video coaching to help them get more out of reading.
"Mia's always there. Mia's never crabby. Mia always has time to listen. She can always give a reasoned response. In those ways, Mia is a great support for both the child and the adults who are working them." - Kathryn Pierce, Assistant Professor of Education, St. Louis University
Kids learn to make more powerful choices about reading, and Mia learns too. Machine learning makes Mia get better and better over time.
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Bringing Mia directly to families
What we need
People frequently ask me, "When can I get Mia for my kids?" Although we developed Mia for use in schools, we don't want families to have to wait until their schools adopt Mia to benefit. To provide Secret Agent Mia's Book Club directly to individual homes, we need to raise $25,000 to adapt our software. We will use these funds to optimize our account management, notifications, and book fulfillment systems. The software works great for kids today, but we want to make parents' experience superb as well.
In addition, due to the technical excellence and educational impact our Phase I project, Mia Learning is eligible for Phase II Small Business Innovation Research funding from the National Science Foundation. Your contribution will help provide the proof of consumer demand required to receive the $750,000 grant when we apply at the end of the summer.
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What you get
So, we need your help, and we're offering perks to recognize your contributions, including:
- Secret Agent Mia stickers and t-shirts, exclusively available through this campaign
- Secret Agent Mia's Book Club subscriptions for the young readers in your life. Pre-order for three months up to a year.
- Subscription sponsorships for children and schools in low-income communities
- An exclusive, one-time-only chance to teach Mia to answer your question.
- Personalized recording of Mia thanking you for your support
- An opportunity for your young reader to write a book review Mia shares with other kids around the world in her recommendations
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Lunch with the founders of Mia Learning in Washington, D.C.
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Plus, cool prizes: Everyone who contributes receives a chance to win a $250 Amazon gift certificate, a custom drawing by acclaimed artist Jane Mount your ideal bookcase, and more to be announced.
Social impact
Learning to read is essential to success in life, but now more than ever we need kids who not only can read but do read. In our complex, ever-changing world, reading the right books, and lots of them, leads to more than just academic success. Books can deepen kids’ understanding, broaden their interests, and expand their empathy and emotional intelligence.
It’s no exaggeration to say that reading for enjoyment among school-age children is in real danger: around age 9, voluntary reading plummets a staggering 39%. Yet if kids can make empowered, educated decisions about their own reading and build their personal libraries, their likelihood of reading on their own skyrockets. Secret Agent Mia's Book Club can help.
Mia Learning believes reading’s benefits should not be limited to a privileged few. That’s why when you contribute to Mia, you also provide children from a low-income household with books. Children’s book ownership is highly inequitable in the United States. The ratio of children to developmentally appropriate books for sale in low income neighborhoods is over 300:1. Getting first in line for Mia will benefit your children and those who are in need.