Epic! – Unlimited Books for Kids

Epic! provides users with a library of books. After launching the app the first time, it requests users to enter their age, interest(s), email, and password to create a personalized library. Users then must enter in a birth year to show an adult is supervising them. Once verified, users have access to the Epic! library, and the library is organized by book recommendations, popularity, recently added, and by topic. Additionally, users can tap the “All Formats” button to choose the book format they wish to read (e.g., picture book, chapter book, early reader, and more) or the “All Ages” button to choose the age recommendation for the book. Once a book is selected, users can read it by themselves, tap the “Play” button to have Epic! read the book aloud (not available with all books), rate the book, or use the slide rule to advance through the book. Users must swipe the book to turn the pages. After reading the book or when ready, users can tap the “X” button to return to the main screen. From there, users can tap the “Magnifying Glass” button to search for books using key terms, and they can tap the “Heart” button to view books they marked as favorites. They can also tap the “Profile” button to access their reading log, see badges they earned for reading books, and view their reading stats.

Please Note: Epic! offers users a month-free subscription. After a month, users have to purchase a monthly subscription for $4.99.

Instructional Ideas

1. During free time or as homework, teachers can assign students to pick a book and read it independently. Afterwards, teachers can ask students to show them their profile so they can ensure the students did read the book.
2. Teachers can assign all students in a class or small groups of students to all read the same book. After reading the book, teachers can ask their class or small group, comprehension level questions such as: (1) What was this book about?, (2) What did you enjoy or not enjoy about this book?, (3) What did you learn from this book?, (4) What do you think this book’s moral, or lesson, was?, and (5) If you could change one thing about this book, what would it be and why?
3. After reading a book, teachers can have students rank the book by assigning it 1-5 stars. Next, teachers can have students explain either orally or in writing why they assigned the book that particular ranking.
4. Before reading a book, teachers can have students look at the book’s title and cover. Then teachers can have students say or write what they predict will happen in the book. Next, students can read the book. Afterwards, students can return to their predictions and explain, either in writing or orally, if their predictions were correct or not and why.
5. After reading a book, teachers can challenge students to rewrite the ending of the book so the exact opposite of what happened in the book now happens. Teachers can require students to write the text and draw the pictures. Teachers can add a twist to this assignment by making it a friendly class competition. To do so, all students in a class would have to read the same book and create a new ending. Teachers could then hang the new endings on a wall or bulletin board and let students vote for their favorite new ending.

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