CES 2019: Lunii My Fabulous Storyteller is fuel for your kid's imagination

Once upon a time there were no screens.

Patrick Holland Managing Editor

Patrick Holland has been a phone reviewer for CNET since 2016. He is a former theater director who occasionally makes short films. Patrick has an eye for photography and a passion for everything mobile. He is a colorful raconteur who will guide you through the ever-changing, fast-paced world of phones, especially the iPhone and iOS. He used to co-host CNET's I'm So Obsessed podcast and interviewed guests like Jeff Goldblum, Alfre Woodard, Stephen Merchant, Sam Jay, Edgar Wright and Roy Wood Jr.

Expertise Apple, iPhone, iOS, Android, Samsung, Sony, Google, Motorola, interviews, coffee equipment, cats Credentials

Patrick's play The Cowboy is included in the Best American Short Plays 2011-12 anthology. He co-wrote and starred in the short film Baden Krunk that won the Best Wisconsin Short Film award at the Milwaukee Short Film Festival.

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Patrick Holland

Jan. 6, 2019 10:30 p.m. PT

2 min read

lunii-01 — My Fabulous Speaker comes with 48 short audio stories geared toward kids. More stories can be downloaded via a Mini-USB cable.
Josh Goldman/CNET

Imagination is a vulnerable and powerful part of being a child and one of the best ways to strengthen it is through storytelling. No pictures. No video. Simply words. But in a time when our lives revolve largely around screens, escaping them takes a lot of effort. So it's refreshing to see the company Lunii create My Fabulous Storyteller, a small speaker filled with short audio stories for kids.

I came across My Fabulous Storyteller inside an exhibition hall at the Mandalay Bay hotel during CES 2019. I spotted the tiny bright teal-colored speaker on a table. It looked as if someone had drawn a picture of an old radio with markers, then brought it to life.

Watch this: Lunii My Fabulous Storyteller feeds your child's imagination at CES 2019

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My Fabulous Storyteller doesn't have Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant on it. Instead, it's filled with short stories aimed at kids ages 3 to 8.

With My Fabulous Storyteller, kids craft stories in a Mad Libs kind of way, choosing the hero, the setting, another character and an object. Then one of 48 stories with those elements plays. Each story is between 3 and 7 minutes long and you can download hundreds of other stories online. All stories are available in eight languages including English, French, German, Italian and Spanish.

CES 2019: My Fabulous Storyteller from Lunii looks as fun as it sounds

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It is truly refreshing to see such a simple and well-thought out device. Sadly there weren't any children at the Mandalay Bay casino to test the speaker out, but it's pretty clear that My Fabulous Storyteller can be a wonderful way to entertain and help your children develop.