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For someone it could replace the babysitter. We are talking about Alexa. Already, the world’s most famous voice assistant will develop new features.

With “Reading Sidekick” Alexa will be able to read fairy tales, adventure books or science fiction books to the children of the house. A real educational function launched for the first time in the United States of America with another important objective: to teach children to read and help adults to practice reading. The tool is aimed at baby readers aged six to nine, although there are books for the more experienced that the service can read together if older children want to use it.

A significant novelty that is part of the “Kids Plus” service on Echo smart speakers and Fire tablets. “Reading Sidekick” works with most Alexa-enabled devices, including the Echo, Echo Dot, Echo Dot Kids, Echo Plus, and Echo Show since you can also use it in audio mode only, flipping through your paperback. The cost is really negligible: $2.99 per month or $69 per year.

But how does “Reading Sidekick” work in practice? To get started, just say, “Alexa, let’s read.” So little ones can choose a physical or digital book on a Fire tablet or in the Kids Plus app. There you can find over 700 available texts of various literary genres. Then, new titles are always added every week. At that point, Alexa will start listening to your child as they read and help them with complicated pronunciations and take on new and exciting challenges along the way.

The little one of the house can choose to read a little or read a lot. In read-a-little mode, Alexa will do the hard work by reading most of the text aloud while the little one follows along and only having it read occasionally. In the read-a-lot mode, your child will do more, reading four consecutive pages before Alexa interrupts them and reads one.

Alexa also offers little encouragement such as “well done!” when the child finishes a book or understands how to work on a difficult section. While “Reading Sidekick” doesn’t offer quizzes or follow-up tests for comprehension or retention of the material, it’s easy to imagine that this new feature could be an important aid to primary school students. For example, this tool could help children maintain their reading skills during the long summer break and can help them build their confidence and help them grow to become independent readers.

“Reading Sidekick is intended to develop fluency and a love of reading ,” comments Marissa Mierow, Amazon’s head of learning and education. The company is also launching Alexa Voice Profiles for Kids this week, which will allow Echo devices to recognize the voice of a specific child, just as it can for adult users. This way, they can personalize the experience for up to four children using a single device by blocking inappropriate content, limiting contact to approved contacts, and providing age-appropriate responses to questions.e”.

Amazon headquarters said it took about 12 months to build “Reading Sidekick”. First it was necessary to adjust Alexa’s patience in understanding children’s pronunciations and being able to correct them. In addition, a team of experienced teachers and scientific researchers has been established to guide the development process of the feature. Some doubts, however, remain regarding privacy even if Amazon has already explained that children’s audios will not be stored or used for other purposes.