When the pandemic started and the schools closed down in March my daughters teacher sent me an email to use Epic! Books for kids. At first I didn’t care to use it because I couldn’t download it onto my Kindle Fire and we already have so many books. We have it until the end of June and I am planning on purchasing the subscription for my kids to continue using it. It’s only 7.99 a month and you get unlimited books and videos. I know, I can get the same thing through the library but I enjoy using this app with my kids.

With Epic! you can assign books to your child’s profile, some of these books have quizzes which I think is great because then I will know if she actually paid attention or not with her audiobooks. There is a reading log and it lets you know how long they were reading, this is a great feature for older kids who are keeping track. The app encourages kids to read for 20 minutes a day and lets them know when they have reached the mark. You are also able to view the quizzes they take and see their score.

Not only are there books for them to read but there are ‘read to me’ books, comics, audiobooks, and educational videos. I also like that Epic! recommends books based on age group. My son, who is three, has different books to look through than my daughter, who is 7. The kids are also able to save books as favorites so you don’t need to go hunting them down. Currently our favorites are from the Princess in Black series and any Dinosaur Train book. We also read a few educational books, my daughter loved reading about gymnastics; we read about how glass is made, the sun, and about telling time.

They have a trial period of 30 days, I suggest checking it out if you haven’t already.

If you have tried Epic! before and it wasn’t really for you I suggest you try Hoopla Digital, I personally use Hoopla for audiobooks but they also have a kids option on their site and app. If you’re like me and you only have a Kindle, not an Ipad, you can download onto your kindle or you can just use it on your laptop/desktop computer. Hoopla is free and works through your library, you will need to get a library card to use the app, once you do you are allowed to download a limited amount of ebooks, audiobooks, movies and music. These stay on your account for about two weeks.

My sister introduced me to the app Libby, it is also free through your library; you are able to borrow a limited amount of books at a time but unlike with Hoopla, once you borrow all your books you don’t have to wait for the next month, you just need to return them. Libby offers both ebooks and audio books, usually if I can’t find something on Hoopla I will find it on Libby.

Another useful reading app is BookShout, with BookShout you can earn BookShout Bucks to use in their store, you earn them by reading and gifting your goals. BookShout also keeps track of how long you read, which is great if you’re trying to keep that 20 minutes or more a day.

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