Use tools to make children’s books easier to read

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 and 8 on Android and iOS devices. Some features, like 'Read and Listen', are only available for books with narrated audio.

Use reading tools

Hear a word spoken out aloud

To hear how a word is pronounced in the book, tap the word. Your device will read the word out aloud.

Listen to a book read out aloud

Important: Read and 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 and Listen .

To hear the book read out aloud:

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

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:

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.

Bookmark pages in a book

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 Table of contents .
3. 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

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.

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:

1. In your browser, go to the Play Books store.
2. Search or browse for a book.
3. Tap the book to open its details page.
4. 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.

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 .