Aesop (a Samos, Greece, native) wrote some excellent fables. You may have been introduced to these fables when you were a kid, only in book form. Today’s kids have it a bit differently. With tablets and smartphones, all things literary seem to come in digital form. Now, Aesop’s Fables come in digital form too. The Library of Congress has created an iPhone and Android Aesop Fable app. Could your kids use a helping of classic lit? Here’s what the new app can do.

Plenty of Tales to Go Around

The Library of Congress has added 140 Aesop Tales to the new app – that’s a lot of good stuff. The app itself isn’t great. But, it’s not that bad either. Kids will see illustrations and animations that go along with each story. More importantly, each story is accompanied by those good old morals, sized up and summarized. So, even if your child doesn’t have the patience to read through a tale (they are short, however), you can rest assured knowing that the moral of any story can still be learned.

The one portion of the Aesop Tale app that I’m not crazy about is the forward and backward option. Most story apps make it easy to go back and forth. This one requires users to tap on the back button instead of flicking the page. It’s also a bit tricky to find the Main Menu section, which is located at the top of the page (kind of a grey shadowy area). But, you do have to remember that this is a government-developed app, it is free (that’s right, folks, free!). All things considered, the app is quite good and it really does get the point across – brining good literature that isn’t about vampires to children everywhere!

Android Users: How to Get This Free App

Above, I stated that the Aesop Fables app is free for both Android and iPhone users. This is a true statement. However, iPhone users can simply download the app from the App Store. Android users will not find this app on Google Play. Instead, Android users must go to the Library of Congress website; make sure that your device is set up to accept apps from outside of Google; download the application (on the LIB site); and install the app. Really, these steps are quite easy. For further information make sure to follow the steps on the Library of Congress website. The whole setup process should take you just a few minutes to complete. As a reward, you will have 140 fables to share with your kids!

Just in case you never caught up with Aesop and his fables when you were a kid, here are some of the titles that you will get with this app: The Ant and the Grasshopper; The Boy Who Cried Wolf; Belling the Cat; Hercules & the Wagoner; and many, many others. While this app was meant for kids, there’s no reason you can’t catch up on your fables too! The app works seamlessly, is a lot of fun, and does come with those illustrations – not quite Cliff’s Notes, but, hey, you can pretend that you know all about Aesop’s Fables if you read through some of these quick stories! Support the Library of Congress and efforts to educate by checking out this amazing app!