About Hazel Reads

It Started with Adelaide

Hazel Reads is named after Adelaide Hazel, a kindergartener who loved making up stories but struggled to find books she could actually read on her own. One day she asked if she could read a story about her cat — and there was nothing at her level. So we built it.

Something clicked. When Adelaide got to pick the characters, the setting, the silly twist — when the story was hers — she didn't want to stop reading. She'd finish one and immediately ask to make another. The stories she controlled were the stories she wanted to read.

Why It Works

Adelaide's experience isn't unusual — it's backed by decades of reading research. Studies consistently show that student choice and autonomy are among the strongest predictors of reading motivation. When children have a say in what they read, they read more, engage more deeply, and develop stronger intrinsic motivation to keep going.

Hazel Reads combines this with a systematic phonics approach — the method recommended by the Science of Reading. Every story uses a carefully curated word list matched to your child's reading level, so the words they encounter are ones they can actually decode. Research shows that decodable texts aligned to phonics instruction help early readers build fluency and confidence faster than leveled readers alone.

Put simply: kids who choose their own stories want to read. Kids who can decode the words on the page can read. Hazel Reads gives them both at once.

How It Works

• Phonics-first vocabulary: Hand-curated word lists matched to your child's level, so every word is one they can sound out.
• Kid-driven stories: Your child picks the characters, setting, and twist. AI generates a unique story within strict vocabulary and sentence-length constraints.
• Tap-to-hear: Kids can tap any word while reading to hear it spoken aloud, building confidence as they go.
• Effort-based celebration: We celebrate engagement and improvement — not perfection — because the research is clear that effort-focused praise builds resilient readers.

Built by Parents, for Parents

Hazel Reads is a small, independent project. We're not backed by a big ed-tech company — just a family that wanted a better way to help kids fall in love with reading. Every feature is tested first by the kindergartener it was built for.

Questions? Reach us at hello@hazelreads.com