Carry the Story

All 106 stories included, free. Read in one language, listen in another, and tap any word to find out what it means.

Every parent can be a storyteller.

Carry the Story is a library of 106 illustrated folktales from eleven cultures, made for families who want to share a story at the end of the day. You bring your presence. The app brings the story, the pictures, the reading help, and the voice, for the nights you would rather not perform.

It was made with parents who say they are not good at storytelling especially in mind, and for every family passing on a heritage or discovering somewhere new.

WHAT IS INSIDE

106 complete stories across eleven shelves: Japanese folktales, Grimm, Nordic tales, Hans Christian Andersen, Estonian legends, Korean folktales, Chinese chengyu stories, Greek fables and myths, Hong Kong folktales, Taiwanese folktales, and the Arabian Nights.

763 illustrated pages, every one drawn twice. Choose black and white manga or color comic, so your child reads with the pictures they like.

Gentle retellings throughout. Nobody is eaten in Little Red Riding Hood, Icarus is caught before the water closes over him, and Snow White simply wakes up.

READ, LISTEN AND UNDERSTAND IN DIFFERENT LANGUAGES

Three separate settings, not one. Your child can read in one language, hear a second, and get word meanings in a third.

Read: English, Traditional Chinese, Estonian. Listen: English, Mandarin, Cantonese, Estonian. Cantonese can be heard as the text is written, or in natural spoken form.

EVERY WORD EXPLAINED

Tap any word in any title or caption. A small card shows what it means, written for a child in one short sentence, with a button to hear it said aloud. Almost 11,000 words are covered.

A SHELF THAT READS ITSELF

Add favorites to the bedtime shelf, then choose Read them all to me. The calm voice carries the whole shelf, moving from story to story on its own while the screen fades gently to black. One tap brings it back.

MADE FOR CHILDREN

Kid mode hides every setting except the picture style, so nothing important gets changed by accident.

No advertising, no in-app purchases, no subscriptions and no accounts.

No data collection of any kind. The app has no networking code at all, so nothing can leave your device, and everything works without an internet connection.

Nothing links out of the app.

LANGUAGES IN THIS VERSION

The interface and all 106 stories are currently available in English, Traditional Chinese and Estonian only. Narration is recorded in English, Mandarin, Cantonese and Estonian. If you would like to read these stories with your child in another language, write to kl@carrythestory.com and tell us which one. We add the languages families ask for.

Because every illustration and every recording is included in the app, the download is large. We suggest installing over Wi-Fi.

Free, with every story included.