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Help · Reading and listening · about a minute

Read aloud

Any finished book can be read aloud by one of six storytelling voices, with each word lighting up as it is said. You can hear every voice for free before you choose.

A parent presses Add a voice on a finished book, taps voices to hear free samples, keeps the American accent and presses Read it aloud. A progress bar shows the recording, the book’s button reads Recording, and then Listen when the voice is ready.

Give a book a voice

  1. In your Library, press Add a voice on the book. (On a phone, tap the book first.)
  2. Tap any voice to hear a free sample. Tap another to compare, or tap the same one again to stop it.
  3. Under the voices, pick an accent. American is already chosen.
  4. Press Read it aloud. A whole book takes a few minutes. You can press Done and carry on: the book’s button says Recording… and then Listen when the voice is ready.

The six voices

  • Wren: warm and knowing.
  • Pip: quick and eager.
  • Bramble: low and dry.
  • Moss: low and grandmotherly.
  • Marlow: big, for adventures.
  • Juniper: young, like an older sister.

Read along

A parent finds a book with a voice in the library, presses Listen and then Read along. The book opens on its cover and the voice reads, each word lighting up as it is spoken, and the page turns by itself at the end.
  1. Press Listen on the book, then Read along.
  2. The book opens and the voice reads. Each word lights up as it is said, and the page turns by itself.
  3. Press pause at the top left to stop, and play to hear that page again from the top. Turning a page yourself moves the voice there too.

Just listen

A parent presses Listen on a book with a voice, then Just listen. A small player appears at the bottom of the library showing the book, the reader and the page, while the parent keeps browsing, then opens the book at the page the voice reached.
  1. Press Listen on the book, then Just listen.
  2. A small player appears at the bottom of your library, with the book closed. It is good for the car or for bedtime with the lights off.
  3. Open the book opens it at the page the voice reached. ✕ stops it.

Choosing an accent

A parent presses Add a voice on a finished book, taps Wren to hear a sample, then taps British, Indian and Australian while she talks, and hears her start again in each accent. They choose one, press Read it aloud, and the book later shows who reads it and in which accent.
  1. While a voice sample plays, tap an accent: American, British, Indian, Australian, Irish or Spanish. The voice starts again in that accent.
  2. Tap the one you like, then press Read it aloud.

More than one voice on a book

On a book Wren already reads, a parent presses Listen, then Add another voice, hears a sample of Moss and presses Read it aloud. Once Moss is ready, the Listen window offers both readers, and inside the book the reader is switched from the list beside the play button.
  1. Press Listen on a book that already has a voice, then + Add another voice.
  2. Choose a voice and accent, and press Read it aloud. The first reading stays as it was.
  3. Next time you press Listen, tap who reads tonight. Inside the book, you can switch readers from the name beside the play button.

What it costs

Each voice uses one narration from your balance, shown at the top of the window. If you have run out, you can add more right there. Hearing samples is free, and a reading you have bought plays as often as anyone likes.

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