Raising bilingual children is highly enjoyable, and since my kids’ birth, I’ve always sought out the best educational tools to support their learning. Books have been invaluable companions in our family’s educational journey. As an author, mother, and avid reader myself, I’m eager to share with you the books we’ve loved for reading and listening in English, as well as how we manage to continue reading when we’re in countries where books are scarce or in languages we don’t master. First, I’ll introduce our favorite audiobooks in English, which are fantastic for young English learners or for raising bilingual children, along with our favorite reading app.
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Stories Aloud
I’ll start with Stories Aloud, an audiobook collection created by Nosy Crow. Every Nosy Crow paperback picture book comes with a free audio reading, complete with sound effects and original music. You just have to scan the QR code with a smartphone or tablet to hear the story. This innovative idea brings together digital listening and reading printed books, allowing families to listen to a story wherever and whenever they want. It is a wonderful idea. Here is a selection of some titles our kids really enjoyed reading and listening:
If you would like to hear what Stories Aloud sounds like, click on the following book to listen to the story:
Reading and Listening with Epic
Now, if like us, you travel all year long, it may be difficult to carry a lot of books with you. The greatest solution we have found is Epic!
Epic! is an American kids’ subscription-based reading and learning platform. It offers access to a collection of over 40,000 popular, high-quality books from more than 250 of the world’s best publishers for children ages 12 and under. The service can be used on desktop and mobile devices, and you can even download books to read them offline, which is great during train, plane, or car trips. Each of my kids’ iPads is equipped with it, and let me tell you, they love it!
The annual plan at $79.99/year is extremely worthwhile. The selection of books is amazing, and Epic offers something for every kind of reader. They have Read-To-Me books, perfect for kids who can’t read independently or those who want to improve their English skills. They also provide audiobooks for story enthusiasts, graphic novels, picture books, documentaries, and more. It’s like having your own portable library. Kids can grow at their own pace with recommendations based on their interests and reading level. They can also build vocabulary and reading skills with Dictionary Lookup, fun word games, and quizzes. Additionally, there are educational videos available. It is a highly educational and impressive app that I recommend without hesitation.
My three kids use it and love it; they enjoy starting their mornings by reading aloud together from one of the stories in their Epic library. I invite you to discover the app and try it for free for 7 days here.
This is not an affiliate link; we just really love Epic! We find it great for traveling families or French families who want to acquire English.
In the following video, I am showing you directly on my app how the reading app Epic works, which we love. Isn’t the read-to-me feature a great idea for reading and listening in English?
See you soon for more!
English (UK) 
Français