Novel Effect: Read Aloud Books

I hold up a book. The kids say we read that…or I have that at home… and I just smile and connect the Bluetooth speaker…annnnd cue sound effects and I know I have them!!! I can see them sitting up, some standing up to actively listen to all the sounds and words and pictures this book has. They never knew…heck!!!I never knew reading could be like this! It is the best app I have ever used for reading. It’s still me with all my silly voices and timing, but leveled up with your own orchestra pit and foley artist. I encourage you to read one book and watch your mesmerized audience. That’s what they become. Mesmerized lovers of books. Forever they will be changed for the better! Bravo!!!

So my title sums it up. This app is a novelty- big on gimmick, short on usefulness. I did have a chance to dig into some of the learning PDF’s and they are fun, coloring pages and fine motor activities, but they aren’t any better than things that can be found on Teachers Pay Teachers. The biggest reason I don’t think this app is worth the steep annual fee are the soundscapes themselves. They are distracting and take away from kids hearing fluency and prosody modeled for them. I have a book worm toddler who has been read to since newborn days. She was more distracted than anything and wasn’t “wowed” by the sounds and kept trying to look at the phone which we normally wouldn’t have present and out during our reading time. The technology is super - following your voice so sound effect timing is nearly flawless, even allowing for questions and feedback from the child and the sound effects stop and pick back up when reading resumes. That part is neat, and I could see kids who were raised on screens more than books liking the sound effects since simple reading could feel “boring” to kids in that category. But if you have a strong foundation of reading time in your house, I think this is a skip because it’s an unnecessary extra layer.

My kids are grown and I read books to my granddaughter with this app. They over heard me reading and sat around to hear the sound effects with their niece. Novel Effect brings a whole new joy to reading and draws new readers into the stories. The ability to pause and discuss the page just read is great for allowing the child to put their input into the story and to participate. We’ve even stopped to talk about the sounds and how they go with what was just read. My granddaughter likes to imitate the sounds heard when read a story again and again. I’ve even been to my local library with the app to get books that can be read with the app. Giving a child the physical book that I can add sounds to makes me the best magical Meemaw around! Thank you! I found out about this app one Sunday morning on a news show. So glad I didn’t sleep in! Please keep the amount of books coming and I can’t wait to try the new update.