Systematic phonics in every story
Controlled vocabulary and decodable structure are embedded into the stories children actually want to keep reading.
Our mission
Every child deserves reading support that fits.
TaleTykes is building the reading platform we wish existed earlier: one that treats literacy growth seriously while still feeling inviting, calm, and genuinely useful.
My Books
When Chicago Burned
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When Chicago Burned
Chapter Book
Historical Fiction
Written for Ava, age 10
Chapter 2: The Bells Begin
By the time Nora smelled the smoke on DeKoven Street, the fire was still hidden behind the sheds and rooftops. The air had changed first. It tasted sharp and dry, like burnt rope, and gray dust drifted onto her sleeves before she saw a single flame.
Then the church bells began. One bell, then another, then all of them, clanging over the shouting in the street until the whole block seemed to jump. Men ran past with buckets. A wagon lurched through the ruts. Somewhere behind Nora, a woman cried that the barns were burning.
Nora spun toward home and saw her little brother frozen at the corner, staring south. If she waited one more minute, the crowd would swallow him. She caught his hand and pulled hard toward the river, before the fire could cut the street in two.
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25%
The problem
America has a reading crisis
The data is familiar by now. The hard part is turning that urgency into tools that actually change daily reading practice.
67%
of U.S. fourth graders read below proficiency
130M
American adults live with low literacy skills
3x
higher dropout risk when early reading never clicks
When the broader reading conversation shifted back toward the science of reading, the gap became obvious: families and schools still lacked a product that combined structured literacy, personalization, and accessible design in one place. TaleTykes exists to close that gap.
How we build
Personalized, phonics-first reading support
The product direction stays grounded in literacy instruction, not just content generation.
Grade-level calibration
We use reading-level signals to keep the experience within reach while still moving the learner forward.
Learns from each session
Progress, completion, and reader preferences all feed back into the next recommended story.
Built for the adults around the child
Parents, teachers, and schools need visibility into support, progress, and where a learner is getting stuck.
What we stand for
Values that shape the product
These aren’t brand words sitting on a wall. They drive product tradeoffs, safety decisions, and roadmap priority.
Science first
We treat reading growth as an instructional problem to solve, not a motivation problem to decorate.
Joy matters
A child should still feel delight while the system quietly does the hard calibration work underneath.
Accessible by default
Support tools should be built into the reading surface, not added as a special-case afterthought.
Safety without compromise
Children’s products need moderation, privacy boundaries, and a calmer set of incentives from day one.
Join the movement
Help us put stronger reading support into more hands.
Whether you’re a parent, teacher, or school leader, TaleTykes is designed to make better reading support feel practical and immediate.