When I was growing up, learning to read could be fun yet boring.

When you're 5 or 6 years old, a bunch of words printed on paper felt like being punished.

You knew you had to learn it, but you would rather go to the dentist and have a tooth pulled.

Amarillo Public Library has changed that narrative though with the introduction of Wonderbooks!

These books are the same old print books we grew up with, but with an added feature. They have audio players built right into them!

I know what you're thinking. What a cheap way for the kids to try and learn to read. They're just going to listen to it and not actually read it. Believe me, I thought the same thing until I heard what they can do.

There are two different modes you can use on the Wonderbooks. There's one for reading, and one for learning.

Cindi Wynia, assistant director of library services, Amarillo Public Library told NewsChannel 10, "The kids can really get into that story and hear the story, they can read it with their own eyes, and it helps them understand what’s happening in the story better,"

In essence, putting the book on reading mode will allow them to hear and see the words together, which in theory should allow the kids to understand the words they're seeing a bit easier.

There is also a learning mode on the book that will help them increase their reading comprehension skills. When in learning mode, the book will ask the reader some open-ended questions about the book. It teaches the kids how to understand what they just read and what things in the book mean.

These books and the equipment that goes with it will be available at all 5 Amarillo Public Library locations, and each location will have a very limited amount of them available.

Every Time Jeopardy! Asked a Question About Amarillo

Amarillo might not be a bustling urban metropolis, but it most certainly is full of quirky characters, unexpected treasures, and historical gems that fly under the radar. It should really be no surprise that our fair Yellow City has popped up more than a few times on Jeopardy!

What's that? How many times is "more than a few times"? Well, take al look and see for yourself.

Can You Guess These Towns From Their Satellite Photos?

I'm always down for a good brain challenge. This one however got the best of me.
It's always a fun time looking up address or cities and seeing them from a satellite point of view. You start pointing out landmarks and things you recognize.

One thing you don't account for however is something looking bigger or smaller than you seemed to think it was. So we started grabbing a bunch of these satellite pictures of cities and towns around Amarillo.

As we looked at them, we thought to ourselves, "how fun would this be to actually have to GUESS what these places are?". So away we went.

Go ahead and try to see how many you can guess correctly!

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