Novel Effect: Read Aloud Books

In-app purchases
4.7
785 reviews
100K+
Downloads
Content rating
Everyone
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About this app

NOW AVAILABLE ON CHROMEBOOK!

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!

In the classroom or at home, see why parents and teachers alike say Novel Effect “…turns reading time into a magical experience." - App Store Review.

There are 3 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.

CLASSROOM
For educators, Novel Effect Premium Classroom offers unlimited access to Premium features and content for one teacher and up to 30 students in a safe and secure environment. Overwhelmingly, educators say reading with Novel Effect is more engaging, creating motivated, confident, and empowered readers.

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
Updated on
Sep 23, 2024

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

4.7
761 reviews
JUSTINE GRIMALDO
September 15, 2024
I am paying for the subscription, and this is a great app. However, even with no background noise to interfere, it often freezes, or does not register that I am on a new page. You may get the same sound effect for 3-5 pages before it adjusts. Pro is you can restart and read from the page you left off on quickly, and it usually works. I will remain subscribed because I believe it has more pros than the one con I experience. Hoping to fix the voice recognition issues in their future app updates.
3 people found this review helpful
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KIMBERLY NECKAR
December 10, 2020
I was so excited to see this app. I work as a para-professional in an elementary library and with the pandemic, my assigned teacher asked me to do read aloud videos so this app I thought would be fun to go with the stories I read. Sadly, most of the time it doesnt work. The background music will play, but none of the other affects for the story plays. I would give it a 5 star if it worked properly all the time. Doesn't even work half the time.😪
30 people found this review helpful
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Novel Effect Inc.
February 10, 2021
Oh no! Please get in touch at support@noveleffect.com and i'm sure we can get it fixed. It sounds like there is an echo cancellation issue.
Mallory Raber
March 8, 2022
This app would be so wonderful if it worked. I've tried on two phones now with a paid subscription (which I regret) and my son and I cannot get through any of the interactive stories without it glitching and stopping the whole thing. The read aloud work a little better but we've struggled a bit with them as well. It's all such a cool idea, I hope the designers can fix the bugs and just make it work.
21 people found this review helpful
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Novel Effect Inc.
May 9, 2022
Oh no! So sorry to hear you are experiencing issues! Please reach out to support@noveleffect.com and we'd be happy to help solve this for you!

What's new

Performance improvements, bug fixes, and visual improvements

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