Bookworm

Inspiration

We were inspired by a friend who could read, but didn't understand complex vocabulary words. This led us into doing more research on whether reading more could also help improve the understanding of such words, which led us to the problem we wanted to tackle: literacy rates!

21% of adults in North Carolina alone cannot read at the basic literacy level (a sixth grader)! Most of this is caused by inadequate reading. If people could find books that they were interested in and at a level they could understand and improve from, this problem could easily disappear. This information led to the creation of Bookworm!

What it does

Bookworm is an app designed to gauge the user's interest in book genres using a short survey, and recommend the user books based in that genre with reading levels. This makes sure users can find a book they like at a reading level that's not too difficult and can help them improve. With other features like one on one messaging and a community feed, the app also builds an inclusive and warm community of users who are learning to fall in love with reading.

How we built it

Since we have very limited knowledge about coding, we built Bookworm using a no code platform called Adalo, which allowed us to create multiple databases to store information about the user, books, etc. and connect our app screens seamlessly.

Challenges we ran into

Our most significant challenge was figuring out how to start to build the app, especially since we only know the basic language of backend programming, Python. Because we found Adalo, building the app was super quick and efficient.

Another challenge we faced was making sure our app's components flowed together seamlessly. We were each working on different parts of the app, so we had to make sure to coordinate and work together, to ensure an flawless end product.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

The accomplishment that we are proud of is building an app that could solve a prevalent problem not just in our community, but in the world.

What we learned

We gained skills like perseverance, communication skills, and patience. Building an app takes time and we ran into a lot of roadblocks but we pushed through them to build a wonderful app. Building our app also required a lot of coordination and time management in order to make sure it worked perfectly. Finally, we learned just how much work goes into developing a successful and working app and gained an appreciation for app developers and the work they do every single day.

What's next for Bookworm

We would like to add more unique features to the app, such as a monthly leaderboard to encourage friendly competition between the users to see who can read the most, and be able to show locations such as local libraries and bookstores, so that users can find their book of interest with ease.

Built With

• adalo