National Tell A Story Day is a campaign to get parents reading with their kids (and another excuse for bookworms to get more reading done) and Google is, of course, jumping on this “holiday” with treats to help you celebrate. As with the last few years, they have been working to make the Google Assistant more useful for us and so this Tell A Story Day, you’ll be able to get the digital assistant to read you a story or read along with you.
The Tell Me A Story feature lets any Google Assistant-powered device read you or your kids a story, either during a long car ride or when you need to keep them occupied or if you just want stories to be part of your daily routine. Just say “Hey Google, tell me a story” and you’ll be able to hear stories like “Let’s Be Firefighters!” (Blaze and the Monster Machines) and “Robot Rampage” (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles). You can also say “Hey Google, tell me a bedtime story” for something more appropriate for getting kids to sleep.
If you have Google Home smart speakers, you can also try out the read along feature with select Disney Little Golden Books like “Coco,” “The Three Little Pigs,” “Alice in Wonderland,” “Cinderella,” “Peter Pan,” and “Toy Story 3”. Get your compatible book and then say “Hey Google, let’s read along” and then tell your Assistant which book you want to read along with it. You get sound effects and other interactive elements as you go through the book together.
You can also let your Google Assistant read an audiobook to you if you bought it from Google Play Books. You will have to log in to your Play Books account and then say “Hey Google, read (insert title of the book). If you don’t own the book yet, you will hear a sample. But if you have it already, then you can just go ahead and listen to it.
The Tell Me A Story feature is available in English in the US, UK, Canada, Australia, and India. The read along feature is available in the US for owners of the Google Home, Mini, Max, and Hub. Audiobooks read by the Google Assistant is available in English in the US, Australia, Canada, and Great Britain, as well as German and Japanese.
