Novel Effect: Read Aloud Books

In-app purchases
1K reviews
Content rating
PEGI 3
100K+
Downloads
Content rating
PEGI 3
In-app purchases
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About this app

Welcome to Novel Effect — an award-winning app that follows your voice as you read out loud from a children’s story book and responds at just the right moment with interactive music, sound effects, and character voices. Bring the story to life, promote literacy, imagination, and fun for kids 12 & under!

There are two versions of the Novel Effect service accessible through the app. New books are added weekly.

FREE
Free Novel Effect offers hundreds of soundscapes for a library of children’s books curated for teachers, librarians, kids and families. Enjoy limited access to soundscapes for free when you bring your own copy of the print book or ebook!

PREMIUM
For families and individual educators, Novel Effect Premium offers unlimited access to a library of kid friendly content. Enjoy soundscapes for popular children’s books when you bring your own copy of the book, or read aloud from hundreds of in-app eBooks, including non-fiction and early reader chapter books, as well as exclusive members-only content.

HOW IT WORKS
Novel Effect’s service follows along as you read out loud, playing interactive music, sound effects, and character voices in response to your voice. Our library includes a wide variety of high-quality soundscapes for carefully selected family friendly books to engage and promote imagination and learning, updated weekly with new titles! Hundreds of titles are available as in-app eBooks, some titles may require you to read aloud from your own copy.

FIND - Use search or browse our collections to find the book you want to read out loud.
PLAY - Tap the cover and then choose how you’ll be reading — with print or an eBook.
READ - When you hear the chime, start reading aloud!
LISTEN - Hear the music and sounds respond to your voice and change with the story.

Add a little magic to story time with Novel Effect.

OUR LIBRARY
Our growing in-app library is curated for teachers, librarians, kids and families. New titles are added regularly - including classics, bestsellers, new releases, hidden gems, and more. Discover your next great story time read aloud here!

Find hundreds of family and classroom favorites covering themes and topics perfect for learning, teaching, and enjoying again and again. Free in-app ebooks and poetry are also included.

KEY FEATURES
• Hundreds of books with more added weekly
• Also includes Spanish books
• Online and offline reading
• A reading log tracks books you’ve read with the app
• Access Novel Effect’s digital library and soundscapes on almost any device

SAFETY, PRIVACY, AND SUPPORT
- Novel Effect requires access to the device's microphone to perform voice-recognition.
- The privacy of kids and their grown-ups is our top priority. Voice-recognition is performed on your device, no voice data is saved without express consent.
- Please go to http://www.noveleffect.com/privacy-policy or www.noveleffect.com/classroom-privacy-policy to learn more.

Novel Effect was featured on Shark Tank, The TODAY Show, and in Forbes, Variety, Lifehacker, and more.

A Parents’ Choice and Mom’s Choice app, a Webby and Cynopsis Award winner for best interactive experience, and an AASL Best Digital Tools winner.

Terms of Service
https://www.noveleffect.com/terms-of-service
Fun Interactive Stories
Updated on
10 Nov 2026

Data safety

Safety starts with understanding how developers collect and share your data. Data privacy and security practices may vary based on your use, region and age. The developer provided this information and may update it over time.
  • No data shared with third parties
    Learn more about how developers declare sharing
  • This app may collect these data types
    Location, Personal info and 3 others
  • Data is encrypted in transit
  • You can request that data be deleted
  • Committed to follow the Play Families policy

Ratings and reviews

967 reviews
Ashlee Przelomiec
15 February 2022
Very cute idea. Pacing is a little weird sometimes and I feel like I get interrupted with some of the sounds. Also, supposed to get 5 free experiences/month. I got 2. It said I had 3 more available, but would not allow me to select a new book. The only option was to sign up for the (expensive) program, no way around it. I just opted into the free trial, but I will be cancelling after the 7 days.
39 people found this review helpful
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Novel Effect Inc.
21 February 2022
Oh no! This sounds like a glitch and we would be happy to fix it for you and get you more free reads to try! Please reach out to our team at support@noveleffect.com!
Rebecca Hooton
30 November 2022
I use this app multiple times a day as an elementary school librarian. It never fails to help grab the student's attention and hold it during story time. Even our upper grades (5-6) love to hear the stories with the music and sound effects added. I can't recommend this app enough! For optimal usage, I connect a Bluetooth speaker to my phone and set the speaker a short distance away to prevent the sounds from overwhelming the input on my phone. Keeps everything flowing just right!
59 people found this review helpful
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Adam
11 March 2021
App is broken. Used to work with the books we had. It was free for some titles and a recent update has broken the books that used to play. When the play button is pressed to react to the story, there is no playback. My kids are devastated by this. I would rather watch ads and have it the way it was, then pay for 60bucks a year for something that doesn't do what it says.
16 people found this review helpful
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Novel Effect Inc.
14 March 2021
Hi Adam! Oh no! Please reach out to support@noveleffect.com and i'm sure we can resolve the issue.

What's new

UI and performance improvements, along with some bug fixes.

We're always looking to improve. If you have feedback or suggestions send an email to support@noveleffect.com