Review by Marianne Rogowski, Common Sense Education | Updated September 2017
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Amazon Rapids

Get it now
  • Download on Google Play
  • Download from App Store
  • Download on Amazon

New way to engage reluctant readers can be a good short-term option

Subjects & skills
Subjects
  • English Language Arts
  • English-Language Learning
Skills
N/A
Grades This grade range is based on learning appropriateness and doesn't take into account privacy. It's determined by Common Sense Education, not the product's publisher.
K–6
Great for:
Common Sense says (See details)
Teachers say (1 Review)
Price:  Free
Platforms:  Android, iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch, Kindle Fire

Take a look inside

5 images
Books delivered in text message style.
There's a mixture of pictures and text.
The library is tailored to age and interests.
Books can be listened to or read.
There's a built in glossary.

Pros: Easy to use, engaging, colorful, and self-paced with support for beginning and struggling readers.

Cons: Lacking in depth and text complexity, with stories and narration that vary in quality.

Bottom Line: A fresh way to engage reluctant readers, but teachers will need to monitor comprehension and connect students to more complex texts.

How Can I Teach with This Tool?

Teachers can use Amazon Rapids to differentiate instruction without embarrassing struggling readers or boring readers who are on grade level. Help students build fluency by allowing them to listen to stories being read with proper tone and inflection, or build vocabulary proficiency with the built-in glossary feature. Need a way to get disconnected readers interested? Have them collaborate to write their own books in the same style, using classroom or personal technology. Build higher-order thinking skills by having older students compare and contrast stories or critique books for things like representation or stereotypes, plot structure, or connections to current events. Finally, the stories are short enough to use as part of a warm-up or exit ticket activity. Teachers are advised to preview content for age appropriateness, and since there is no assessment feature, have some ideas in mind for how to monitor students' reading comprehension and progress.

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Standards:

Amazon Rapids is a reading app that engages young readers by using a familiar style: text messaging. Users can access the full, weekly-updated library for free, and it grows weekly. To tailor the experience, users can customize profiles by age, gender, and favorite genres. Once a student chooses a story, the navigation is fairly intuitive. Speech bubbles and images, similar to text messages, appear on-screen as if the book is being rolled-out in real time. Students can choose to read a story one speech bubble up at a time, or scroll for a continuous read. Students can also opt to listen to the story as read by a variety of voices: some are real actors and others computer generated. When using the audio feature, the app highlights each word as it's read. Students can tap their finger on any word to get a pronunciation and can hold their finger for a definition, which pops up in a separate window and automatically populates a glossary for reference. Separate avatars/profiles allow for tracking of multiple readers' progress.

Amazon Rapids' text delivery differs from other reading apps. Aside from the kid-friendly comic book feel, research shows that reading comprehension can be improved, in part, through chunking, listening to a fluent reader, and monitoring progress. Rapids accomplishes the first two fairly well and provides a bit of help with the third. The small amount of text in each bubble allows users to read without being overwhelmed, while the listening option, though sometimes robotic, allows students to benefit from read-alouds without depending on adults to model fluency. The highlighted words, which can be a distraction as the stories grow in complexity and reading speed, do prove useful at lower levels. An option to speed up or slow down the audio and highlighting would be a useful addition as a reader's skill improves.

Where the app lacks is in monitoring, assessment, and text complexity. Teachers can see what books users have completed, but there is no way to tell if a student has engaged with or understood the content, so teachers would still have to assess those skills. Additionally, teachers should be aware that -- as with any library -- stories vary in quality and some contain content kids will need help parsing; for instance, one story alludes to the Black Lives Matter movement. Without an adult to provide proper context, young readers may miss out on the development of some critical reading and thinking skills. While Rapids can be a very useful short-term reading engagement tool, ultimately, students will need more personalized reading instruction, feedback, and interaction with longer and more complex texts to become competent, thoughtful readers.

Overall Rating
Engagement Is the product stimulating, entertaining, and engrossing? Will kids want to return?

Students will appreciate the comic- and text message-inspired spin on reading. The short, high-interest stories can engage proficient and reluctant readers equally.

Pedagogy Is learning content seamlessly baked-in, and do kids build conceptual understanding? Is the product adaptable and empowering? Will skills transfer?

Small chunks of text are less likely to overwhelm readers. The story variety and listening features promote differentiation. Some support for beginning and struggling readers, but falls short beyond that.

Support Does the product take into account learners of varying abilities, skill levels, and learning styles? Does it address both struggling and advanced students?

The stories level based on user profiles and can be easily re-read or re-listened to for clarity. No built-in feedback or assessment, however.

Common Sense Reviewer
Marianne Rogowski Media specialist/librarian
About our ratings and privacy evaluation.

Key Standards Supported

Language

  • L.K.4

    Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words and phrases based on kindergarten reading and content.

  • L.K.4a

    Identify new meanings for familiar words and apply them accurately (e.g., knowing duck is a bird and learning the verb to duck).

  • L.1.4

    Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words and phrases based on grade 1 reading and content, choosing flexibly from an array of strategies.

  • L.2.4

    Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words and phrases based on grade 2 reading and content, choosing flexibly from an array of strategies.

  • L.2.4e

    Use glossaries and beginning dictionaries, both print and digital, to determine or clarify the meaning of words and phrases.

  • L.3.4

    Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning word and phrases based on grade 3 reading and content, choosing flexibly from a range of strategies.

  • L.3.4d

    Use glossaries or beginning dictionaries, both print and digital, to determine or clarify the precise meaning of key words and phrases.

  • L.4.4

    Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words and phrases based on grade 4 reading and content, choosing flexibly from a range of strategies.

  • L.4.4c

    Consult reference materials (e.g., dictionaries, glossaries, thesauruses), both print and digital, to find the pronunciation and determine or clarify the precise meaning of key words and phrases.

  • L.5.4

    Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words and phrases based on grade 5 reading and content, choosing flexibly from a range of strategies.

  • L.5.4c

    Consult reference materials (e.g., dictionaries, glossaries, thesauruses), both print and digital, to find the pronunciation and determine or clarify the precise meaning of key words and phrases.

  • L.6.4

    Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words and phrases based on grade 6 reading and content, choosing flexibly from a range of strategies.

Reading Foundational Skills

  • RF.K.1b

    Recognize that spoken words are represented in written language by specific sequences of letters.

  • RF.K.1c

    Understand that words are separated by spaces in print.

  • RF.K.1d

    Recognize and name all upper- and lowercase letters of the alphabet.

  • RF.K.4

    Read emergent-reader texts with purpose and understanding.

  • RF.1.1a

    Recognize the distinguishing features of a sentence (e.g., first word, capitalization, ending punctuation).

  • RF.1.4

    Read with sufficient accuracy and fluency to support comprehension.

  • RF.1.4a

    Read on-level text with purpose and understanding.

  • RF.1.4b

    Read on-level text orally with accuracy, appropriate rate, and expression on successive readings.

  • RF.2.4

    Read with sufficient accuracy and fluency to support comprehension.

  • RF.2.4a

    Read on-level text with purpose and understanding.

  • RF.3.4

    Read with sufficient accuracy and fluency to support comprehension.

  • RF.3.4a

    Read on-level text with purpose and understanding.

  • RF.4.4

    Read with sufficient accuracy and fluency to support comprehension.

  • RF.4.4a

    Read on-level text with purpose and understanding.

  • RF.5.4

    Read with sufficient accuracy and fluency to support comprehension.

  • RF.5.4a

    Read on-level text with purpose and understanding.

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Teacher Reviews

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Featured review by
Andy M. ,
Discovery Elementary School
Gig Harbor, United States
Students thought the stories were pointless and boring. Can't replace a good book.
This product can't replace books nor does it inspire one to read. The stories are sub par with questionable content. My students couldn't stay engaged and the majority thought the stories were too long and pointless.
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