Use tools to make children’s books easier to read

To learn the meaning of a word in a book:

1. Tap a word.
2. Select Dictionary look-up .
   • If it doesn’t appear: the word’s definition isn’t available.

Tip: To hear the definition out loud, on the definition card, tap Listen  .

To hear the book read out aloud:

1. Tap anywhere on the book page.
2. Tap Listen .
   • If you can’t tap the icon: Read and Listen isn’t available for the book.

To turn the pages after the narration pauses at the end of a page, manually turn the page, or set Play Books to automatically turn the page.

1. Open the Play Books app .
2. At the top right, tap your profile picture.
3. Tap Play Books settings.
4. Turn on Automatically turn pages.

Practise reading

Important: The Reading Practice tool is only available for English children’s books with narrated audio. On the book listing page, if this tool is available, you can find Practice .

To practise reading out loud, tap Practice . Your device follows along as you say each word, and highlights your place in yellow. To set a new reading position, tap on a word.

• At the end of the page, you receive guidance for any words pronounced incorrectly. To skip the guidance, tap Skip .
• To get help with a word, tap on it to have it read to you.
• To receive more assistance with a word: tap Help :
• To hear a word broken down by its sounds: Tap Sound out .
• To hear a word used in a sentence: Tap Hear sentence .
• To read and hear the definition of an available word: Tap Define .

Tip: The Reading Practice tool requires microphone permission. You’re prompted to allow microphone permission the first time that you tap Practice . If you reject the permission and wish to allow it in the future, you can change app permissions in the Settings app.

To bookmark a page:

1. Go to a page.
2. Tap anywhere on the page.
3. At the bottom, tap Bookmark.

To go to a bookmarked page:

1. On the book, tap anywhere on the page.
2. Tap Skip for skim view.
3. At the bottom, scroll to find the bookmarked page.
4. Tap the bookmarked page.

1. Open the Google Play Books app .
2. At the top right, tap your profile picture.
3. Tap Play Books settings.
4. Make sure that Tools for beginners is turned on.

To check a book’s age range:

1. Open the Play Books app .
2. Search or browse for a book.
3. Tap the book.
4. Check the book’s details page.
   • If the age range is 0–5 or 6–8: Tools for beginners are available. 
   • If the age range is 8+: Tools for beginners aren’t available.

If you still have trouble with the tools, you can send feedback about your experience. You won’t get a response, but your feedback will help us improve the reading tools.

1. On your phone or tablet, open the Google Play Books app .
2. At the top right, tap your profile picture.
3. Tap Help and feedback Send feedback.
4. Describe your issue.
5. Tap Send .