Here's the thing about kids' reading apps: they're all slightly different in how they handle favorites, ratings, and recommendations — and none of them make it super obvious. You kind of have to poke around to find where the "save this" button even lives.

Based on Screenwise community data, about 50% of families are using tablets with unsupervised access, which means a lot of kids are navigating these apps on their own without a parent sitting next to them. That's fine! But it also means the family profile settings often go untouched, and the recommendation engines never get properly trained.

The two platforms where Rainbow Magic lives most prominently are Epic! and Amazon Kids+, and they work pretty differently.

Epic! has the most robust reading profile system for this age group. Here's how to make it work:

Saving a favorite: When your kid is reading a Rainbow Magic book (or any book), there's a bookmark icon on the book cover in the library view. Tapping it adds it to their personal bookshelf. You can also do this from the parent dashboard — log in at getepic.com, go to your child's profile, and manually add books to their library.

Rating a book: After a book is marked as "finished," Epic! prompts kids with a simple emoji-style rating (happy face, meh face, sad face — very on-brand for the 6-9 crowd). These ratings feed the recommendation engine. If your kid just closes the app without rating, that data doesn't get captured, so it's worth building a quick habit: "Did you rate it before you closed it?"

Getting better recommendations: The "More Like This" section on any book page is genuinely useful once there's enough reading history. After 5-10 rated books, Epic! gets pretty good at surfacing similar series — so if your kid loves Rainbow Magic, you might start seeing Fairy School, Pixie Tricks, or the Flower Fairies series pop up. Which, fair warning, just adds more books to the pile.

Parent tip: Log into the parent dashboard and check "Reading Activity" — you can see exactly which books were opened, for how long, and whether they were finished. This is also where you can manually curate the library if your kid's recommendations have gone off the rails.

Amazon Kids+ (formerly FreeTime Unlimited) takes a more parent-forward approach. The tradeoff is that kids have less ability to self-curate, but parents have more control over what gets recommended.

Saving favorites: On a Fire tablet, kids can "favorite" a book by pressing and holding the cover, then selecting "Add to Favorites." This shows up as a dedicated row on their home screen. From the parent side, you can go into Parent Dashboard → Content → Manage Content and curate exactly what appears in your child's library.

Ratings: This is where Amazon Kids+ is honestly a little clunky. The in-app rating system for books isn't as prominent as Epic!'s. Kids can give a thumbs up/thumbs down, but the recommendation engine leans more heavily on completion data (did they finish it?) and time spent than explicit ratings.

Getting better recommendations: The "Recommended for [Child's Name]" section updates based on reading history, but it's slower to personalize than Epic!. The better hack here is to use the parent dashboard to manually add the next Rainbow Magic books in the series to your child's library — Amazon's series detection is actually pretty solid, so if you add Book 1, it'll often suggest Book 2 automatically.

About 30% of families in our community data use Amazon Kids+ with free/unsupervised access, meaning the parent dashboard features are often completely untouched. If that's you, it's worth spending 10 minutes in there — it genuinely changes the experience.

Okay, real talk: Rainbow Magic books are not literature. They're not trying to be. Daisy Meadows (the pen name for a whole team of writers) cranks these out on a formula, and the formula works because early readers love predictability. Same structure, new fairy, collect them all. It's basically Pokémon for the chapter book set.

But here's what's actually useful about the Rainbow Magic obsession: it's building reading stamina. Kids who tear through 20 Rainbow Magic books are developing the habit of finishing books, the confidence that comes from being a "reader," and — if you play the recommendation engine right — a pathway to more complex series.

The natural next steps after Rainbow Magic are The Fairy Chronicles, Ivy and Bean, Owl Diaries, and eventually The Worst Witch or Isadora Moon. All of these are discoverable through the "More Like This" pathway if the rating and favorites data is in there.

Explore reading pathways beyond Rainbow Magic

Our community data shows families averaging 4.2 hours of screen time per day (4 hours on weekdays, 5 on weekends). Reading apps occupy an interesting middle ground in that conversation — most parents, rightfully, feel differently about 45 minutes on Epic! versus 45 minutes on YouTube. But it's still worth being intentional about it.

One thing worth noting: 30% of kids in our community data have some level of digital independence — meaning they're navigating apps, making choices, and spending time online without direct supervision. For reading apps specifically, that independence is mostly fine, but it's exactly why setting up the favorites and recommendation features matters. You want the app working toward your goals, not just serving up whatever gets the most taps.

Learn how reading apps compare to other screen time

For Epic!:

For Amazon Kids+:

Q: How do I save a book as a favorite on Epic! for my child?

Tap the bookmark icon on the book's cover image in the library view, or mark it as finished and rate it — both actions add it to your child's reading history and improve future recommendations. You can also log into the parent dashboard at getepic.com and manually curate your child's bookshelf.

Q: Why isn't Amazon Kids+ recommending more Rainbow Magic books after my kid read one?

Amazon's recommendation engine is slower to personalize than Epic!'s and relies more on completion data than ratings. The fastest fix is to go into your Parent Dashboard and manually add the next books in the series — Amazon is good at detecting series sequences once you seed it with a few titles.

Q: Are Rainbow Magic books on Epic! or do I need Amazon Kids+?

Both platforms carry Rainbow Magic books, though availability of specific titles varies. Epic! tends to have broader catalog access for the subscription price; Amazon Kids+ availability depends on your plan tier. Check current availability on both platforms.

Q: My kid rated a book on Epic! but the recommendations didn't change — what's wrong?

The recommendation engine typically needs 5-10 rated/completed books before it starts personalizing meaningfully. One rating won't move the needle much. Keep encouraging your kid to rate after each book, and within a few weeks the "More Like This" suggestions should start feeling relevant.

Q: What should my kid read after Rainbow Magic?

Owl Diaries, Isadora Moon, and Ivy and Bean are the natural next steps — same cozy, character-driven energy with slightly more narrative complexity. The Worst Witch is a great leap forward when they're ready. Get a full reading pathway.

The favorites and recommendation features on Epic! and Amazon Kids+ are genuinely useful — they just require a tiny bit of setup that nobody tells you about. Spend 10 minutes in the parent dashboard, make sure your kid knows to rate books after finishing them, and the algorithm will start doing the work for you. And when it inevitably surfaces book #47 in the Rainbow Magic series, just remember: they're reading. That's the win.

Ask our chatbot about setting up kids' reading profiles