Storybooks Canada (http://www.storybookscanada.ca/) is an open access digital innovation developed by a UBC team in the Department of Language and Literacy Education, which seeks to promote multilingual literacy for young Canadians. A derivative of the African Storybook, the website has 40 illustrated stories, in text and audio format, in 12 immigrant and refugee languages of Canada, including Mandarin, Arabic, and Swahili, as well as English and French.
Our research addresses a range off questions including: What translation challenges arise? Which stories are most appealing to Canadian children? To what extent can the stories be used to promote early reading? How can the stories be related to the new BC curriculum? In what ways can the project build home/school connections? Our theoretical framework draws on literacy as a social practice.