YouTube Kids

YouTube Kids Taps Dolly Parton, JoJo Siwa For Child Literacy Initiative

In honor of YouTube Kids’ second annual Reading Month initiative, the platform has tapped iconic country crooner Dolly Parton and 15-year-old dancer and digital star JoJo Siwa to help foster a love of reading and unlock literacy among children across the nation.

The month-long initiative, through August, will feature a special playlist helmed by Parton, who has been a literacy advocate for decades — and founded a book gifting program called the Imagination Library — inspired by her father’s inability to read or write. YouTube has also tapped Jimmy Fallon, Viola Davis, Kristen Bell, Nick Cannon, and Ludacris to read their favorite children’s books in videos, which are available via a #ReadAlong playlist. For her part, Siwa — who signed an overall deal with Nickelodeon

last year — is headlining a playlist comprising clips from the famed kids’ channel.

In addition to the aforementioned celebs, YouTube Kids is also introducing a ‘Word Of The Day’ tile in the ‘Recommended’ section of the app, which will teach young viewers new words via explainer videos.

Subscribe for daily Tubefilter Top Stories

Subscribe

YouTube Kids launched its Reading Month initiative last June — though National Reading Month is technically held in March — alongside top publishers HarperCollins, Penguin Random House, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, and National Geographic Kids. Check out Siwa’s video, introducing her Nickelodeon playlist, below:

Share
Published by
Geoff Weiss

Recent Posts

Meta says its new age verification tech isn’t facial recognition. Can that solution manage meddling kids?

As world governments breathe down Meta's neck, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram has unveiled a new layer of…

10 hours ago

It’s time for a Game Changer: Dropout raises $1.5 million (and counting) to develop board game

Dropout's flagship game show is coming into your living room. The media company that succeeded…

10 hours ago

TikTok adds to out-of-home push by letting brands “reformat and reimagine” ads for billboards

TikTok is inviting advertisers to expand their focus beyond the For You Page. The app is…

11 hours ago

Airlines are clamping down on in-flight filming. What does this mean for aviation YouTubers?

Online reviews can make or break a business--especially when that review, instead of being buried…

1 day ago

YouTube is testing a tool that lets creators generate royalty-free music for their videos

YouTube is testing a tool that helps creators deal with copyright claims, and it could upend…

1 day ago

You can now listen to Musk v Altman live on YouTube

Elon Musk is suing Sam Altman. We all know this. But there's been an update…

1 day ago