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Peabody
I’m a kid

Your kid dreams it up. Peabody writes it at just their level.

They see the first pages today and the rest tomorrow. Then they get to read it to you.

Start freeor read one first ↓

Made by Aaron, a Colorado dad, for his own kids. Read his note ↓

  • Free for the rest of 2026
  • No card
  • No ads
  • Real names stay in the family
Peabody, a bubble dog in round glasses and a red bow tie

What should your story be about?

A dragon who’s scared of the dark!

Read one right now.

This is the start of a Peabody starter story, just the pages a real one shows on its first day.

Peabody starter story

Pim and the Mitten

Grade 1 levelgentleanimalskindnesslost and found

In your kid’s own stories, they can be the hero.

How a day works

Built for a little every day, not a lot on Saturday.

Skip the weekend cram. A few minutes a night, with you as the audience, not the grader.

  1. 1 Read yours.

    The story they dreamed up yesterday unlocked overnight. Its new words are underlined inside; tap one to hear it.

  2. 2 Read one from the library.

    A story by someone else, at any level. Big kids can read little kids’ stories too.

  3. 3 Dream up tomorrow’s.

    Your kid says what should happen (a grown-up can type while they talk). Peabody gets cooking, shows them the first few pages, and stops just as it gets going.

Before they dream up a new one, they finish the last one (read it through, answer a few questions, get most of its new words right) and read one story from the library. One new story a day; library reading is unlimited.

  1. Your story is cooking!

  2. The first few pages, today.

  3. Check back tomorrow to see the rest of your story.

  4. Morning: the whole story is ready.

The wait is part of the fun: tomorrow, there’s the rest of the story.

Their level: where they start, then how they read.

Kids will tell you they’re in a higher grade. Aaron’s did, and he believed them once. The stories came out years too hard, and nothing caught it. Kids can tell Peabody their grade to start, and Peabody watches how they read from there. If the books look too easy or too hard, a short game called “let’s find your books” finds your kid’s level, and nobody ever sees a score. In a hurry? Pick a starting point in book terms (picture books to big-kid books), and Peabody corrects it as they read.

  • Every new story’s reading level is measured. Too hard or too easy, and it’s rewritten before your kid sees it.
  • A word counts as known only once they’ve gotten it right on three different days.
  • After their own story, a quick check of its words. Missed a few? They read it again together; it never locks them out.
  • A few questions at the end check they understood the story, not just read it.
  • Tap a new word to hear it, as often as they like.

Start free

Then they read it to you.

When your kid finishes their own story, they can tap Read it to someone. Peabody switches to big type, one page at a time, easy to follow from the couch. At the end, the story’s new words go up big for everyone to see. Your kid picks who they read to, and it counts toward your family’s streak.

Peabody never listens in. There’s no microphone. The audience is you.

Kids write for kids.

Unless you mark a story private, it joins Peabody’s library, where other kids can read the whole thing. Outside your family, your kid is a pen name, like Captain Moonbeam, never their real name. The hero is renamed for other readers too.

  • Any kid can read any level. Your scariness setting still applies, and your kid never sees past it.
  • Every story is screened for safety and labeled (funny, spooky, dragons…) so kids know what they’re getting into.
  • Readers give one, two or three thumbs up. There’s no thumbs down.
  • Want one kept in the family? Mark it private and it stays out of the library.
  • A kid who made their own account, with no grown-up, keeps every story just theirs: never in the library, never on a share link.
  • Story buddies. Your kid can follow a friend’s pen name and see their new stories. There’s no messaging, ever. You see every follower and can remove any.

Right now the library is mostly Peabody’s own starter stories. It fills up as kids write.

Read Peabody’s stories free in the library, no account needed.

  • Peabody starter story

    Pim and the Mitten

    Grade 1 levelgentle20 pages

    animals · kindness · lost and found

  • Peabody starter story

    The Tapping in the Fog

    Grade 2 levelspooky14 pages

    mystery · night · animals

  • Peabody starter story

    The Deep Field

    Grade 6 levelspooky18 pages

    science fiction · survival · undersea

Send one to Grandma.

Proud of a story? Your kid taps Share, and a grown-up sends the link by text or email, or scans its QR code. Anyone with the link can read the story without an account, and pass it on, until you switch the link off. A story that hasn’t unlocked yet shares only its first pages. Readers can tap a reaction face (loved it, so scary…), but there are no comments. Links stay out of search engines.

What Peabody keeps, and what it never does.

Peabody keeps

  • Grown-ups’ emails and logins
  • Each kid’s first name, avatar, pen name and sign-in code
  • Their reading and math level, and the grade a kid picks, if they pick one
  • Your settings, like scariness
  • Each kid’s school, if you pick one
  • Their stories, and the ideas they gave for them
  • How they read: answers, time on each page, words they tapped, who they read to
  • Thumbs, reactions and link opens on their stories; their story buddies

Peabody never

  • Asks for age or birthday
  • Takes last names, photos, addresses, or a kid’s email or phone
  • Uses a microphone or records a voice
  • Shows ads, or sells your data
  • Shows your kid’s real name outside your family
  • Sends anything about your kid to a school
  • Lets kids message anyone
  • What the AI is told about your kid: their first name (only if you let them star in their stories), their reading level and the words they’re working on, your scariness setting, and the ideas they gave (plus the earlier books, if it’s a series). Never their age, school or last name. Tip for the ideas box: no last names or addresses.
  • Not a chatbot. Kids never chat with an AI, or with anyone.
  • Pen names in public. Outside your family, your kid is a pen name. Their real name never leaves the family, not even inside a story.
  • You set the scariness. Four levels, from gentle to horror. Your kid never sees past yours. Hard limits at every level: no graphic gore, nothing sexual, no self-harm.
  • No leaderboards. Points come only from finishing stories and math, and nothing is for sale.
  • Shared by default, private on request. Stories join the kids’ library under a pen name unless you mark them private. A kid’s own account, made without a grown-up, keeps every story private.
  • Never sold, never used for ads. The only outside services that touch your data are the ones that run Peabody: Anthropic (writes the stories), Supabase (stores the data), Vercel (hosts the site and counts visits without cookies) and Resend (sends email).
  • Delete everything, any time, from the grown-ups’ privacy screen.

Read the privacy policy →

Start free

A share for your kid’s school, once there’s money to share.

Peabody is free right now, so no money is going to schools yet, and none is piling up. Aaron pays for every story.

If paid plans start, the plan is for a third of what a family pays to go to a partner school, and the rest to run and build Peabody, including the AI that writes the stories. A school receives a share only once it becomes a partner, and more schools will be joining.

Schools will get money, never data: no names, no levels, nothing about your kid. Once money flows, Peabody will publish what each school has been paid.

A note from Aaron

Hi, I’m Aaron. I’m a dad in Colorado.

Like a lot of parents, I’ve walked out of a teacher conference and tried to fix everything in one weekend. Long sessions. It didn’t work. Kids can’t do long sessions. What they can do is a little, every day, and that turns out to be the hard part for a busy family.

So I built Peabody for my own kids. They tell it what the story should be about (a dragon, an ice monster, zombies, always zombies), and the next night they’re begging to find out what happened, then dragging whoever’s nearby in to listen. I didn’t plan that part. It’s the best part.

I learned some things the hard way. My kids asked me to tell the app they were in a higher grade, and once I did. The stories came out years too hard, and nothing caught it. My son told me so. He was right.

It’s free for the rest of 2026 while I find out whether other kids love it the way mine do. I pay for the stories. If something’s broken, confusing or wonderful, I want to hear about it.

— Aaron

Questions parents ask

How old does my kid need to be?

Peabody never asks their age. Stories run from very first words (one big sentence a page, read with a grown-up) up to about an eighth-grade level. Kids can tell Peabody their grade to start, or skip it. A short game finds your kid’s spot, or you can pick a starting point in book terms and Peabody adjusts as they read.

Is it really free? What happens in 2027?

Free for everyone through Dec 31, 2026, with no card. What comes after isn’t decided yet. You’ll hear well before anything changes, and nobody is charged without choosing to pay.

Does Peabody use AI?

Yes. Stories are written by an AI model (Claude, from Anthropic). Code then measures each one’s reading level, and every story is screened for safety before your kid sees it.

Will my kid chat with an AI, or with other kids?

No. Kids read stories, give thumbs up, tap reaction faces and share ideas for their own next story. There’s no chat and no messaging.

How scary can stories get?

You choose: gentle, spooky, scary or horror. Your kid never sees past your setting. Some kids love a good scare; hard limits apply at every level.

What do other kids see about mine?

If you haven’t marked a story private, other kids can read the whole thing, with the hero renamed, plus its title, level, labels and your kid’s pen name. Never their real name, age or school.

Can my kid try it before I sign up?

Yes. From I’m a kid, they can make their own account with a first name and 4 numbers they pick. No email, no grown-up, and nothing else personal asked. Their stories stay just theirs: they never join the library and can’t be shared by link.

Do I need to sit with them?

For early readers, yes: those stories are built to be read side by side. Older readers can go on their own. A grown-up can type tomorrow’s ideas if your kid can’t type yet.

Siblings? Two parents?

One family account. Each kid signs in with their first name and a 4-digit code, and siblings can read each other’s stories. Each grown-up gets their own login. A kid can also make their own account from I’m a kid, with a first name and 4 numbers they pick; for now it stays on its own and can’t join a family account.

Is there math?

A little. Fractions, from naming them to adding unlike denominators, plus a times-tables drill. Problems are made and marked by code, not AI, and equivalent answers count (10/12 is 5/6). A wrong answer gets a picture that shows why.

What do we need?

Any phone, tablet or computer with a web browser. Nothing to install.

What does the school get?

Nothing yet, and never data. See the school section.

How do I delete everything?

From the grown-ups’ privacy screen. It’s gone within 30 days.

Their first story could be cooking tonight.

A few minutes to sign up, and then your kid dreams up their first story.

Start freeFree for the rest of 2026. No card.

Kid right next to you? They can make a story now, no account needed: Make my own story →

Know a parent who’d love this?

Let’s make your first story!