You can make children’s books on Play Books easier to read with a set of tools to help new readers.
The tools for beginners are available for books intended for children between the ages of 0-8 on Android and iOS devices. Some features, like “read & listen,” are only available for books with narrated audio.
Use reading tools
Hear a word spoken out loud
To hear how a word is pronounced in the book, tap the word. Your device will read the word out loud.
Listen to a book read out loud
Important: Read & listen is only available for children’s books with narrated audio. On the book listing page, if this tool is available, you can find Read & listen .
To hear the book read out loud:
- Tap anywhere on the book page.
- Tap Play
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- If you can’t tap the icon: Read & Listen isn’t available for the book.
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To continue after narration pauses at the end of a page: Turn to the next page manually or set Play Books to automatically turn to the next page:
- Open the Play Books app
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- At the top right, tap your profile picture.
- Tap Play Books Settings.
- Turn on Automatically turn pages.
Bookmark pages in a book
To bookmark a page:
- Go to a page.
- Tap anywhere on the page.
- At the bottom, tap Bookmark
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.To go to a bookmarked page:
- On the book, tap anywhere on the page.
- Tap Table of contents
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- Tap the bookmarked page.
.Fix issues with the reading tools
If you have trouble with the tools for beginners, follow the steps below.
Check if the tools are turned on
- Open the Google Play Books app
- At the top right, tap your profile picture.
- Tap Play Books Settings.
- Make sure Tools for beginners is turned on.
Tip: When you sign in to Play Books with a child account, the tools are turned on by default.
Check if you’re reading a children’s book
To check a book’s age range:
- In your browser, go to the Play Books Store.
- Search or browse for a book.
- Tap the book to open its details page.
- Check the book’s age range.
- 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.
Send feedback
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.
- On your phone or tablet, open the Google Play Books app
- At the top right, tap your profile picture.
- Tap Help & feedback
Send feedback.
- Describe your issue.
- Tap Send
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Send feedback.
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