What's New: June 2026
June 21, 2026 · The Worldly Team
New in the library
Four new titles this month, all illustrated:
- The Wind in the Willows, Kenneth Grahame's classic adapted for grades 3–4 across six episodes, with 41 original watercolor-and-ink illustrations. Mole's first day on the river, the Wild Wood in winter, Toad's jailbreak: the whole arc, modernized but faithful.
- Kidnapped, Robert Louis Stevenson's adventure across the Scottish Highlands, adapted for grades 3–4 in five episodes.
- The War of the Worlds, H.G. Wells's Martian invasion, adapted and illustrated.
- Wild Sands, a new Level 3 nonfiction reader in flipbook format.
Rate the stories you read
After finishing a story, you'll now see a star-rating prompt on the completion screen. Tap to rate it 1–5 stars. Averages show up on story cards as you browse, so you and your kids can see what other readers are enjoying. It's a small thing, but it makes the library feel more alive.
Flipbook and dictionary improvements
The flipbook reader we launched last month got a full rebuild under the hood. Page-turning is smoother, each page loads independently with its own spinner, and it no longer shares code with the chapter reader. If your kid reads picture books or nonfiction flipbooks, it should feel noticeably better.
We also added over 170 words to the built-in dictionary, including Hebrew and Arabic heritage terms that appear in stories like Sophia's Unofficial Guide and The Attic Archives. Long-press "matzah" or "habibi" and you'll get a real definition now.
From the team
We've made all content in Worldly free for the time being. No subscription required, no paywall, just open the app and read. We're also excited to be experimenting with choose-your-own-adventure stories, where readers make choices that branch the narrative. More on that soon.
What's New: May 2026
May 17, 2026 · The Worldly Team
Flipbook mode for picture books and early readers
This is the big one. Illustrated stories and early readers now display in a page-by-page flipbook format — swipe or tap to turn pages, with full images centered on each page. It makes picture books feel like actual books instead of long scrolls, and it's especially nice on tablets.
We built flipbook mode alongside a wave of new content designed for it:
- A Dog Named Sheep and Bazooka Pooka — two bedtime picture books with full-page illustrations
- Big Wonders — a nonfiction series for Level 3 readers, also in flipbook format. Nonfiction in particular benefits from the page-at-a-time layout, where each spread pairs a concept with an image.
- Four new early-reader series with five episodes — short, illustrated, and designed for kids just crossing from "learning to read" into "reading to learn"
More stories in the library
For chapter-book readers, we added:
- The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes — a full classic adaptation for grades 3–4, with three seasons and six episodes of mysteries. Our biggest single title yet.
- Wren Figures It Out — original contemporary fiction
- Out There — original sci-fi
- Mira and the Glowing Mushroom — original fantasy
Built-in dictionary
Long-press any word while reading and you'll get a kid-friendly definition right in the reader. No switching apps, no losing your place. We wrote the definitions ourselves to keep them clear and age-appropriate. A simple routine that works well: when your kid hits a word they don't know, have them long-press it, read the definition together, then re-read the sentence. Ten seconds, builds vocabulary, doesn't break the story's flow.
Subscription and free trial
Worldly now runs on a subscription with a 7-day free trial. Start reading everything in the library today at no cost, and if your family is getting value from it, keep going. Manage your subscription anytime from the profile page.
From the team
This month was about making Worldly work for younger readers — flipbook mode, the dictionary, and a wave of early-reader and picture book content. We're building toward a library where every kid from age 5 to 14 can find something genuinely good. More coming next month.
What's New: April 2026
April 12, 2026 · The Worldly Team
Worldly is now on iOS and Android
We're live in the app stores! You can download Worldly today on the App Store or Google Play. This is still Early Access mode, but we've been working toward this for a while, and it feels great to have it out in the world.
Seven new stories in the library
We've been busy. This month we added a wave of new reading to Worldly, a mix of reimagined classics and original series:
- The Monkey King - A 10-episode retelling of Journey to the West, fully illustrated. Follow the irrepressible Monkey King as he causes chaos in heaven, gets trapped under a mountain, and sets off on an epic journey west.
- Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea - Captain Nemo and the Nautilus, adapted for younger readers.
- Treasure Island - Jim Hawkins, Long John Silver, and a map that starts it all.
- Peter Pan - Neverland, reimagined and illustrated.
- Around the World in 80 Days - Phileas Fogg's race against the clock, with scene illustrations throughout.
- Last Stop in the Universe - An original sci-fi series set at the edge of known space. Two episodes out so far.
- My Fairy Life - Original contemporary fiction. Two episodes available.
A faster, smoother reading experience
Under the hood, we made the app noticeably faster. Images load more quickly and are cached so they don't re-download. Navigation between chapters now shows a proper loading screen instead of a blank flash. And we added a reading-level onboarding step for new readers. The library now filters to the reader's grade level by default, so they see stories that are right for them.
From the team
This is our first blog post! We'll be sharing updates here each month or so: new stories, app improvements, and the occasional reading tip. If you have questions or feedback, you can always reach us at support@readworldly.com. We'd love to hear from you.