The Best Sources for Read Along Books
Every time I mention audiobooks for kids (so, you know, every third day), I get multiple questions about where to find read along books.
With an audiobook, you’re generally going to just have the audio (basically like an audio CD) where as with a read along book, your child can see the pictures while a narrator reads aloud the text.
If your kids listen to audiobooks on a tablet but they start playing on it, pop in your email address and I’ll send you my best tips for avoiding that!
To be honest, we actually don’t use read along books ALL that much – my children generally just listen to audiobooks while they’re playing with play doh or going to bed – but I know some families absolutely LOVE them.
If read along audio books are what you’re looking for to use with your children, these are some of my favorite sources for read along books – I hope you’ll find them helpful!
Where to find Read Along Books
The library
My first introduction to read along books was with those little packets that many libraries have with a picture book and an audio CD to go along with it. When Ella was about 2, these started to be lifesavers in the car. Instead of complaining endlessly about being buckled in her carseat, she’d happily turn the pages as the CD read the book aloud to her. If your library doesn’t have those (or you’ve exhausted their collection), you can cobble your own together by getting a picture book and then finding the audio version either on CD or digitally.
DIY read along books
I wrote a full post about this a couple of years ago but basically, you can record your own narration (or have an aunt or uncle or grandparent or older sibling do it!). You can record it on a CD or simply use the recording app on your phone. Easy and extra special to have a voice they love reading them the story. Bonus points if you add page turn sound effects.
Overdrive/Libby (They call them “Read-alongs for Kids”)
All Overdrive and Libby collections are dependent on your local library and what they choose to buy for their collection, so it’s possible that your library’s Overdrive collection won’t have a Read Alongs section. Here’s their directions for how to find the Read Along books in your library’s digital catalog. FYI that these will open in a browser, so if your child is using a tablet where you have the browser blocked, it won’t work. (I have a whole post here about how to use Libby!)
Audible
Audible has about 250 children’s audiobooks with synchronized images so they’ll show on your phone or tablet as you listen. For more details about how to use Audible, I wrote this whole post, but the take-home message is that for most children’s books, especially the picture books, it’s better to buy them a la carte instead of through your Audible membership, since most of them are less than $2.
Vooks
Vooks has a whole library of streaming read along books for kids that you can use on a phone or tablet or desktop computer. They’re lightly animated, which is different than many of the read aloud book options on this list, and have some music added in. You can do a free 7 day trial or try out a couple of the books they have for free here. I’m pretty impressed with their collection!
Wonderbook/Vox Books
If you’re new to Wonderbook, it’s a hardcover picture book or early reader with a little audiobook player built right into the front cover. Press play and it’ll read aloud to you while you turn the pages (complete with the little page-turn ding!). My library’s collection of Wonderbooks continues to grow and grow and they have books for kids of all ages! Here is a whole post about how they work here!
Tumblebooks
This isn’t available to the general public but many many public libraries and schools have subscriptions and you can access them through their sites – they’ll generally have a page that tells you the username and password so you can access them or a direct link you enter through. We used Tumblebooks a LOT with Ella when she was younger – she loved to watch a couple of books read aloud to her on my computer and it saved me when I felt like death during my second pregnancy and just wanted to lie on the couch. Their library is pretty robust and I think it’s just standard no matter what library or school you’re using. Tumblebooks is where I first discovered Mercy Watson!
Starfall
Starfall has a collection of read along books – they call it “talking library.” It’s fairly limited without a membership, but many schools and libraries already pay for a membership for their patrons, so check to see if yours does!
Epic!
Epic! bills themselves as the Netflix of digital books for children and it’s not far off, since they have a really great collection (like 35,000+), including e-books and audiobooks and, yes, read along books (under the tab “Read to Me”). They have a bunch of fiction AND non-fiction and it’s $8 per month. Plus, you can use it on a phone or tablet or on your desktop. Oh, and there is a free 30 day trial too.
ABCMouse
This program (which works on both computers and tablets/phones) has a section called Storytime and they have a lot of books, although it doesn’t tell you which ones have narration, so it’s just trial and error to figure out which ones will read to your child. You can get 2 months of access for $5, which is a screaming deal.
Any other ways that your family accesses read along books? I’d love for you to share any programs or apps I might have missed so this post can be even more useful for other families!
If you liked this post about read along books, you might also enjoy these posts:
- How to keep your child from playing on the tablet while they listen to audiobooks
- How to make your own DIY audiobooks
- 20+ activities for your child to do while they listen to audiobooks
Photos by Heather Mildenstein
One of my favorites is Storyline Online read by SAG-AFTRA members. They also have an app now. I recently discovered the Harper Kids channel on YouTube.
Another library based collection is hoopla. It’s similar to overdrive, but separate. Our library has lots of read alongs in there.
Learning Ally!! It’s a subscription based app but its a heaven sent if you have a dyslexic kid. Sometimes schools or dyslexia practices will pay for it.
I also like http://www.uniteforliteracy.com. They have tons of books and you can listen to them in different languages!
Hi, could you please share what tablet and headphones are pictures? I have a voracious 5 year old reader, and my parents want to know what to get for her birthday! Thanks much,
Nicole
It’s a Kindle Fire Kids Edition and here are the headphones: https://amzn.to/3gYHOU4
Is there anyway I can get a list of the books you offer for an 8th grader? We have his book on audible, but he finds the background music is annoying. He is a very reluctant reader. The book he has chosen is Star Wars Force Collector.
It’s maybe not quite the same, but YouTube has tons of books being read aloud, often by celebrities or trained voice actors, with images.
Silliest question – but the book/notebook with the beautiful pattern – what is it? I’m in love!
TYIA! I’m about to dive in trying to find read-alouds for recently diagnosed dyslexic boys and this post has been SO helpful!
I click your Audio links from Amazon and can’t get anywhere because it’s asking for a subscription. Can you explain more how to find books with synced pictures for kids through Amazon?
Try Read Along With Me Books – listen and read books for children aged 3 to 6. You can access the matching narrations on Spotify, Apple Podcasts or by scanning a QR code inside the front cover.
My husband and I started the ‘Read Along Book Club’ on YouTube after our first grandson was born.
In our videos we read children’s book out loud while pointing to the words. We pick up most of the books from our local library and hope to instill a love of learning and reading in our grandchildren and viewers.
Hi! Thank you so much for these helpful list!
I can’t get the link for the audible books with pictures to work–I do have an Audible subscription. Any suggestions? That sounds like a great resource! thank you!
Kanopy through my library has several books.
I also like that you can go to author websites or publishers and find free downloads of their books being read. Since they download as an MP3, I can load them to a make your own Yoto card and my daughter was *thrilled* to go around and find all the books I loaded to one card and sat there listening and looking through a stack of books for over an hour. Some books have QR codes to scan for the the free audio read aloud now.
I second storyline online as well and Hoopla.