Siblings on one device: how Peabody keeps readers apart without names
How Peabody's reading tracker keeps siblings apart on one tablet with animal faces, not names: up to six readers, what is kept on the device, and what is never sent.
On a shared tablet, each child picks an animal, and the animal is their reading record on that device: up to six readers, each with their own age, finish line, books and streak, and no names anywhere. The records stay in the browser on that device. The tracker sends Peabody a count when a book is logged (which challenge, and whether it was that reader's first book in it or a later one) and which sheet was printed, and never the book, its title, the animal or the age. This guide is exactly how that works, what is stored, and what the faces can't do. The tracker is free, like the rest of Peabody through the end of 2026, with no account.
I built it so that no child ever has to type their name into a tablet to keep a reading log.
Picking a face
The first time a child opens a reading challenge, Peabody asks who's reading and shows three big animal buttons. There are nine animals in all: a frog, a fox, a bear, a bunny, a panda, a turtle, a lion, an octopus and a hedgehog. The child taps one, and Peabody says hello to "the fox" out loud and tells them the tracker is theirs on this device.
After that, a row of faces sits at the top of every challenge. A brother or sister taps the + to pick their own animal from the ones not yet taken, so no two readers on a device share one. The + disappears at six readers. Switching is a tap on your own face, and the tracker remembers who read last, so it opens on them next time.
One small check helps with a wrong tap: if a child switches to an animal that has already logged reading today, Peabody asks whether it is really them. It is a nudge, not a lock.
Each reader's own finish line
Once a face is picked, Peabody asks its age with three big boxes: 5 to 7, 8 to 10, or 11 and up. It asks once per face, and not at all when a signed-in child's grade is already known. The age sets that reader's finish line where it differs by age: in Winter Break, 10 books for 5 to 7, 6 for 8 to 10 and 4 from 11 up. It also decides which of Peabody's stories "Log a book" shows first, nearest that reader's level.
So a six-year-old and a ten-year-old on the same tablet each see their own mountain, their own books and their own streak, which shows from two days in a row and counts only that reader's days.
What is stored, exactly
The tracker keeps its records in the browser's own storage for the site, under keys that start pb-bookclub-v1:.
| Key | What it holds |
|---|---|
pb-bookclub-v1:faces | The animals on this device, in the order they were added, six at most. |
pb-bookclub-v1:now | Which animal was reading last. |
pb-bookclub-v1:fox (one per animal) | That reader's record, below. |
A reader's record holds:
- The age box they tapped (5 to 7, 8 to 10 or 11 and up), and the challenge they last opened.
- For each challenge they started: the day they started, each book logged with the date (and, on Book Bingo, the square it stamped), the day they reached the finish line, and which series for the Series Challenge.
- Titles of books from somewhere else, typed by a grown-up, 60 letters at most, and whether the child said it was a story, a true book or a comic.
- Offers the reader has closed, so they stay closed.
A logged book is a short reference, never the book's text: a Peabody story by its web address name, a book on one of Peabody's kids' lists by the list and its number, a series book by the series and its number, a book from somewhere else by a random string of letters and digits that is never its title, or, in the January challenge, twenty minutes of reading. The title sits beside its random string, on the device.
Each time the tracker reads a record, it tidies it: anything it doesn't recognise is dropped, an entry in the wrong shape is skipped, a challenge keeps at most 1,000 books, and a title is cut to 60 letters.
One thing is kept for the device rather than the face: the checklist on a series page, which a series page keeps for itself. Books ticked there count in the Series Challenge for whichever reader is doing that series.
What is never sent
From the tracker, Peabody receives two things:
- A count that a book was logged, with the challenge's name and whether it was that reader's first book in it or a later one.
- Which sheet was printed: the chart, the log or the certificate.
That is all the tracker sends: never the book, the title, the animal, the age or the streak. A child never types anything. When a grown-up adds a book from the library or the shelf at home, they press and hold for two seconds and type the title; the site's word filter checks it in the browser, and the title stays on the device.
The printed chart has a QR code back to the challenge, and the code carries no child data. The what should I read next picker reads the age from the device to skip a question, and doesn't keep its answers.
What the faces don't do
Being exact cuts both ways, so here is what the design doesn't give you:
- It isn't private between siblings. Anyone on the device can tap any face. Separate is not secret.
- It doesn't follow a child to another device, or to another browser on the same device. Nothing is sent, so there is nothing to sync.
- It goes if the site's data goes. Clearing the browser's data for the site removes every reader's record on that device. If the browser won't let the site keep anything at all, the log lasts only until the page is closed.
- It holds six. A seventh reader needs a second device, or paper.
For anything you want to keep, print. The chart has a line for records, like "Read 6 books, 19 Dec – 27 Dec", and the log has a column for a grown-up's signature.
Questions parents ask
Can two of my children pick the same animal?
No. Each animal can be used once per device, so the second child chooses from the animals still free.
Does Peabody know my child's name?
Not from the tracker. There is nowhere to type one, and the faces are animals by design.
What happens if my child taps the wrong face?
Peabody asks whether it is really them if that animal already read today, and a book logged by mistake can be taken off straight away.
Do the stories need an account?
No. The stories in the library are open to anyone, and the tracker works with no sign-up.
Checked against how Peabody works on 30 October 2026. Written with help from AI. Peabody is a reading app, not a reading assessment: if you're worried about your child's reading, talk to their teacher.