Your cart
Your cart is empty
Continue shoppingAbout
Our Mission
THE CASE FOR SIMPLE TECH
Books vs Screens: Can they compete?
Books play a fundamental role in early childhood development. Reading to young children improves language acquisition, cognitive processing and social-emotional skills, and is also a rewarding bonding experience. It’s universally accepted that books are important.
But in our digital world, Children are increasingly being directed to screens as a source of information and entertainment. And screen time for little eyes accumulates quickly.
Screens can be hard to compete with! How do you get children to focus on printed books?
We have something that can help.
Now, saying you’re solving a technology reliance issue by replacing one electronic device with another sounds hypocritical. We’re not. We are suggesting replacing it with a book- any book you choose. The added benefit is that the book is read by their loved one.
The Founders
Click to read each of our founders stories
Zephyrus White
Marketing | Operations | Sales
Arden Ariel
R&D | Production | Tech
Zephyrus White
Marketing | Operations | Sales
Zephyrus grew up in wide open prairies of Kansas surrounded by books. In the pre-internet world of his youth books were not only a source of knowledge and entertainment, but also a window into the greater world.
Books opened his eyes to a world of possibilities. Those possibilities led him to adventure; theatre, writing, traveling the world, Harvard Business School, performing with the Metropolitan Opera, managing a micro hotel in Vermont, publishing a book... And here, creating Read To Me.
Zephyrus’ dream for Read to Me is that it will help open other children’s eyes to their own world of possibilities.
Our founders are multifaceted. To learn about his other ventures, visit:
Arden Ariel
R&D | Production | Tech
It's all about connection. Arden designed her first electronic device at four. When she pressed the red button to connect the circuit, its light bulb went on. It was a fitting allegory: connection creates light, life, and ideas.
As a busy consultant, student, and single mom, she treasures the time she can spend reading to her son. She co-designed Read to Me to keep that ritual when she can't be there. She hopes it will allow other children to feel connected with their loved ones through the delight of reading together- even when apart.
After age four, she went on to design circuits as an electronics engineer in the US Navy. She’s currently completing her degree at Harvard.
Our founders are multifaceted. To learn about her other ventures visit:
Veteran Owned Business
Fast Shipping from USA
Making The Book Buddy
WHEN IT ALL BEGAN
1978-ish
In a small house in Kansas, my siblings and I would gather on the shag rug and listen to our parents read to us. Those books transported us to new worlds, stretching our minds with ideas, cultures, philosophies, and possibilities. Our grandmother, who lived far away, also read to us by recording her voice on cassette tapes and sending them along with books. We called her Grandma Goose- like Mother Goose the fabled storyteller. We were always so excited when a package from Grandma Goose would arrive. We’d snuggle on the reading rug, listening to her voice as we turned the pages. We cherished those wonderful moments.
A SAD DISCOVERY
2017
When I wanted my little niece to experience the same magic, hearing her great-grandmother read to her, my sister and I unpacked the books and cassettes from storage. We soon discovered that those old tapes had degraded, and Grandma Goose's voice was lost along with them. It was an incredibly sad moment. This sparked the idea for the Book Buddy, a device that could record and preserve a loved one's reading without becoming obsolete.
THE IDEA
2020
During the pandemic I spent hours reading to my little niece and nephew. One day I heard my partner Arden reading one of my favorite children’s books to her son. She had her own set of silly voices which made "Shh, We Have A Plan" seem like a completely different book than when I read it. It was a vivid reminder how personal the act of reading to a child is.
DESIGN & MANUFACTURING
2021
I remembered my idea, and shared it with Arden, who had an engineering background from her time in the Navy. Excited, she began designing the Book Buddy. Within a month, she had created a simple, elegant solution: a self-contained device that easily attaches to books, records voices, and is durable enough for children. Two prototypes and a patent application later, our first batch of Book Buddies arrived from the factory- despite global supply chain disruptions and a microprocessor shortage!
THE REAL TEST
2022
We tested the Book Buddy by sending it to Arden's grandparents, who returned it with a recording of "Three Billy Goats Gruff." When Alexander, Arden's son, heard his great-grandpa's voice, he laughed himself silly. I could also see nostalgia and memories from Arden’s own childhood on her face as she listened. We knew we had something special, and couldn't wait to share it with the world.
IN BOOKSTORES EVERYWHERE
2023
By 2023, we were selling in over 100 independent bookshops nationwide!
IN THE GLOBAL MARKET
2025
Version 2.0 of the Book Buddy was released in Sept 2025, produced with care at the same family-operated factory that we have grown with over the years. Through a pandemic, supply and worldwide trade upheval. and We sell worldwide direct to consumer, and through resellers in three countries. We now have larger retail partners such as Books A Million and Uncommon Goods. And we keep growing- More to come!
