Oh my.
Have you heard of Epic!? It’s an eBook service that focuses on kids books. There are over 20,000 books currently available in the database.
And when they say there’s a lot of books in Epic! eBook subscription database, they were not kidding. I recently signed up and, long story, short, love it. I don’t know where to start, so follow me along on my discoveries below.
Please note, this is not a sponsored or paid post from epic! I am trying the app (and site) out on my own, all opinions are my own. Links to epic are affiliate links.
Sign-up for Epic!
I saw Epic a while ago, but waited to sign up. Why? No idea. I thought it would be difficult, or expensive, or whatever. But, then I saw that new subscribers get their first 30 days free on Epic and thought, “sign me up!”
I picked the oddest time to sign up, though. There I was sitting in the car line at my son’s school. It was only a few minutes until the bell was going to ring and kids were going to start running to cars. I downloaded the app wondering how much exploring I could do before a car behind me would start honking, but I didn’t want to wait, and I did still have some time, so what if it’s only a few minutes, I wanted to see what Epic was all about, I needed to know, fast. I knew I couldn’t do much, but how much could I do?
First. Signing up was easy. Click this link. Follow the directions. Done.
Enjoy all the books
Then I had time to browse books. I was excited. I don’t know if it was the countdown to when I’d have to start my car and get my son, or if it was the access to all the books, but my fingers couldn’t move fast enough. Luckily, it’s intuitive. Still, I was in a hurry and wanted to scan and take it all in at once. Time crunch and all. As I was opening and closing books, menus, and other things, I saw that I was earning badges for opening and closing books, menus, and other things.
I immediately discovered that I can filter by topic. I picked “World”. Through my scrolling, I saw covers that looked familiar to me. Cool. They’re in my directory at KidsTravelBooks. Yay! I opened a few up, closed them. Got more badges. Then thought, “what are these badges for?” What about my kids? Am I earning badges that they’ll want to earn? So, I calmed down and looked to see if there was a way to have separate profiles for my focused “world” searches, and all the different searches my kids will do in the future. And just as the car in front of me started pulling up to pick up their kid, I saw there was and remembered that for later.
Instant access to thousands of high-quality ebooks for Kids 12 and under.
Back at home
After we got home, I sat down with the program again. I quickly made some password-protected profiles for my two kids. Then went back to searching. I earned more badges as I learned to zoom in on books and do other things.
It was time to play. Because this site is about KidsTravelBooks, I’m only going to discuss the things I love about Epic! for my intended audience of people who like to read books about other cultures. Except to note that since I’m only focused on KidsTravelBooks, a small corner in the big world of Epic! So, if you or your kids like to go off the “other cultures” topic, there’s stuff there for you, too.
One of the things that I immediately loved looking at the app was the ability to filter further down. You can search for books by type (picture, chapter, etc.) and age ranges from 0 to 12. This is a tool I hope to implement soon on my own site, and now I completely see the value in it.
When you have it filtered for the “world” they give you multiple categories. There are audiobooks, read to me books (the narrator reads along to the pages as you see them), and on-topic videos that are like encyclopedia entries. The books, in the World filter, are organized by categories such as the different continents, transportation, or other worldly things. They’re not directly KidsTravelBooks, but it’s easy enough to find what I’m looking for. You can also save books for offline reading. Perfect for long road trips.
Final Thoughts
This is a great app. It’s intuitive. It’s affordable. It has over 20,000 books and many, many, many books that I would consider “KidsTravelBooks”. It can be used on phones, tablets, and desktops. You can connect an account to a teacher. It gives badges for doing cool things, keeps track of what you’ve read and saved, and makes recommendations based on your interests.
I still love the feel of real books, and I want my kids to love the feel of real books and limit screen time, but I can think of so many times having this app will come in handy. Like, when we have a question about a specific destination and want to learn more about it. Or looking for a book to buy and reading the digital version first. Definitely for road trips, train trips, and plane trips. Plus, buying 20,000+ individual books would be a lot more than $5 a month and it’s nice to have this all at your fingertips.
I have a page on this blog dedicated to Epic! App book reviews. I update it 2-6 times a month and keep the reviews there for your viewing pleasure.
Sign up now and read FREE for 30 days!
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