How it works

Reading starts before the ABCs.

Every letter is a picture of the thing it starts with

The a is an apple, the b a bee, the n a ninja — each drawn inside the letter's own shape, in Andika, the font USAID's guidance on early reading materials recommends for beginning readers. Someone who has never been taught a sound can still make something of c a t.

A cat, an apple, a tiger.

Then the pictures fade

Full picture → colored in → flat color → plain ink. Common letters fade first. The picture letters fade, and by the last page your child is reading real letters.

The same a, four 'fades' apart.

Tapping any letter, on any page, brings its picture back and plays its sound.

Sounds, never names

Tap m and you hear mmm, not "em". Letter names get in the way of blending a word.

Tap it to hear the m.

What it never has

No ads, and nothing about your reader sold or shared with anyone
No points, stars, streaks or badges
No timers and no pressure
No fast motion, no loud sounds, no autoplay
Nothing about a child's reading collected (see privacy)

When a book ends there is a picture, and then the words you read. Nothing cheers and nothing is counted — it should feel like closing a book, not clearing a level.

What it costs

Nothing today, and there's no account to make. That will change. There will be a paid version, and a sign-in for the grown-up with it.

When it does:

The printable sheets stay free.
The account will be the grown-up's. A child never signs in to anything.
The privacy page changes before anything about it changes, never after.

Using it together

Five or ten minutes at a time is plenty, and a young reader does best with someone beside them. If a letter stumps them, let them tap the letter.

Not doing screens yet?

Fair enough. There are two printable sheets — the alphabet and the first words.

Made for everyone

It's built for any beginner, and a few of the ordinary decisions here matter more to some readers than others — a reader with dyslexia, a reader with low vision, anyone who needs a bit longer:

Letters that don't mirror each other. Andika keeps b, d, p and q apart by shape rather than by flipping one form, and uses the single-storey a and g children are taught to write.
Big, widely spaced, never in caps. Reading text is set large with generous letter spacing, in dark ink on a warm off-white page rather than white glare.
A second way in for every letter. Each has its own unique color, but color is never the only clue for each letter: the letter picture inside carries a clue, so it holds up for a color-blind reader.
Sound on demand, and only on demand. A tap plays the letter's sound; nothing plays on its own, and the app works fully with the sound off.
No clock. Nothing advances, expires or moves by itself, so a page can be sat with for as long as it takes.

It isn't a treatment, a test or a diagnosis, and it won't tell you whether a reader has dyslexia — it is a book that waits. More detail on the accessibility page, including what still needs work: screen-reader labelling isn't finished. If you use assistive technology with a reader and something blocks you, tell us — that goes to the top of the list.