Toby's Story
Nine-year-old Toby loves books. Ever since he was tiny, he’s adored stories. Fairy tales; legends of pirates, knights and dragons; heroes and villains. He’s especially interested in space and history, soaking up facts about the solar system and intrigued by epic historical battles and social issues from the past. He also loves Lego and plans to be an inventor one day. Toby is bright, intelligent and funny. But he cannot read. Here Toby's mum tells us his story.
“Toby is severely dyslexic and has ADHD (attention-deficit and hyperactivity disorder). This affects how he processes printed words. It can take him an hour or more to read a page, struggling to decode the text. Then all the meaning – and most of the joy – is lost in translation.
"As his parents, it’s heart-breaking to see the frustration he faces every day. With audiobooks, Toby’s in his element. He’s devoured hundreds of books, including the whole Harry Potter series, and talks animatedly about the realms he’s encountered. The characters are as real to him as his friends. But, for a voracious reader like Toby, the costs of a typical audiobook subscription service soon start to mount up.
"Discovering Calibre has been an absolute game changer. The gift of a book is so much more than the pages it’s written on. It supports education, self-esteem, social interaction. And it boosts a child’s confidence. You can see that in Toby every day as he explores and grows despite the huge hurdles he faces.”