TL;DR: If you’re tired of the Roblox negotiations and the YouTube "one more video" loop, OverDrive is your best friend. It’s the digital backbone for Libby (public library) and Sora (school library). In 2026, the ecosystem has shifted entirely to these two apps, offering a massive win for intentional parents: free, high-quality content with significantly better parental controls than the "wild west" of the old OverDrive app.
Ask our chatbot for a curated reading list based on your child's interests
It’s easy to get confused by the branding here, so let's simplify. OverDrive is the parent company—the "warehouse" that holds all the digital books, audiobooks, and magazines. You don't really "use" OverDrive anymore; you use their apps to access the warehouse.
- Libby: This is for your local public library. You put in your library card, and suddenly you have access to thousands of ebooks and audiobooks. It’s sleek, user-friendly, and replaced the clunky legacy OverDrive app that finally went sunset in early 2025.
- Sora: This is the student version. If your child’s school uses OverDrive, they log in with their school credentials. The beauty of Sora is that it can also link to your local public library, giving your kid a massive catalog without needing a separate app.
It’s a tough sell to tell a kid to put down Fortnite and pick up a "library app," but Libby and Sora have a few secret weapons that make them sticky for kids:
- Graphic Novels: The digital reader for Dog Man by Dav Pilkey or Smile by Raina Telgemeier is actually great. Kids can zoom in on panels, and the colors pop on a tablet in a way they don't always on newsprint.
- Audiobooks: This is the ultimate "quiet time" hack. My kids will listen to The Wild Robot or Wings of Fire for hours while building Legos. It feels like "entertainment" to them but counts as "literacy" to us.
- The "Hold" List: Believe it or not, there's a certain dopamine hit in seeing that a book they’ve been waiting for is finally "Ready to Borrow." It teaches a tiny bit of delayed gratification in an era of instant Netflix streaming.
For a long time, the digital library was a bit of a gamble. If you gave your 9-year-old access to the library app, they could technically stumble upon spicy "BookTok" romance novels or gritty true crime.
In 2026, the transition to Libby and Sora is complete, and the parental controls have finally caught up. Parent Mode in Libby now allows you to set "Audience Filters" that persist across searches. You can lock the app to only show "Juvenile" or "Young Adult" content.
If you’re looking to populate their "Loans" shelf with something better than brain rot, here’s what’s hitting for different age groups right now:
Ages 6-9: The "Hooked on Reading" Phase
- The Bad Guys: Hilarious, fast-paced, and great for reluctant readers.
- InvestiGators: If they like Dog Man, they will devour this.
- Who Was? series: These are surprisingly popular on digital because kids can jump around to the figures they actually care about (like MrBeast or Taylor Swift).
Ages 10-12: The Middle Grade Sweet Spot
- Percy Jackson and the Olympians: With the Disney+ show being a hit, the books are back in high demand.
- Amari and the Night Brothers: Fantastic world-building that rivals Harry Potter.
- Refugee by Alan Gratz: For kids who want something "real" and intense without being inappropriate.
Ages 13+: Young Adult (YA) Done Right
- The Hunger Games: Still the gold standard for dystopian fiction.
- A Good Girl's Guide to Murder: Very popular right now; it’s a page-turner that keeps them off TikTok.
Check out our guide on the best audiobooks for long family car rides
While Libby is a walled garden compared to the open internet, it is still a library. Libraries contain books for adults.
The Sora Advantage: If you are really worried, stick to Sora. Because it’s tied to the school, the librarians have already curated the collection to be age-appropriate. A 3rd grader using Sora won't even see the YA section unless the school has specifically enabled it for their grade level.
The Libby Reality: If you’re using Libby on a shared family iPad, you need to use the "Filters" feature. You can tap the "Search" icon, select "Filters," and choose "Juvenile" (usually ages 0-12). To make this stick, you can "Pin" the filter so every search only shows kids' books. It’s not a password-protected "lock," but it’s a strong deterrent.
One of the coolest unintended consequences of using Libby or Sora is that it teaches kids how to manage a digital resource.
Unlike Roblox where the goal is to get you to spend Robux, the "economy" of Libby is time and availability. Kids have to:
- Manage a Budget: They can only have a certain number of books out at once.
- Understand Waitlists: If Diary of a Wimpy Kid has a 4-week wait, they have to plan ahead.
- Respect Deadlines: The book "disappears" (returns itself) after 14 or 21 days. No late fees, but a hard lesson in finishing what you start.
If your kid complains that "reading is boring" compared to Minecraft, don't fight the tech—use it.
Try saying: "I’m not saying you can't play Minecraft, but we’re doing 'Digital Switch.' For every 30 minutes of gaming, you do 30 minutes of an audiobook or ebook on Sora."
Because it’s on a screen, the transition is often smoother than trying to get them to switch to a physical book. It feels like a lateral move to them, even though it’s a massive upgrade in cognitive engagement for their brain.
OverDrive (via Libby and Sora) is the "healthy" screen time we all wish existed for social media. It’s high-value, low-risk, and—most importantly—completely free.
In 2026, there is no reason not to have these apps installed on every device your child uses. It provides an instant "out" when they say they're bored, and it’s the only app on their tablet that actually makes them smarter the more they use it.
- Find your library card: (Or sign up for one online—most libraries allow this now).
- Download Libby: Set the "Juvenile" filter and pin it.
- Check Sora: Ask your child’s teacher for their school login.
- Connect them: Link your public library card inside the Sora app so your kid can see both collections in one place.
Ask our chatbot for more tips on balancing reading and gaming