Your child doesn’t like reading? Maybe it’s not the child. There’s this moment at the kitchen table. You know exactly which one we mean. The book lies open, your child glances at the tablet beside it, and you wonder: When did reading stop being exciting? We know this moment. Mathias and I are both fathers. Our wives are both teachers. We see the numbers in the studies: one in four children in Germany doesn’t reach the minimum reading literacy level. And we see what’s behind those numbers. Children who haven’t gotten worse. A world that has changed.
Reading competes with everything now
Books used to sit alongside the quiet of an afternoon. Today they sit alongside YouTube, TikTok, and an endless scroll. That’s not a complaint. It’s the reality your child is growing up in. School reading books often don’t reflect this reality. They’re the same for everyone, even though twelve children in a third-grade classroom are at twelve different reading levels. Some lose the thread because the text is too hard. Others get bored because it’s too easy. And for children who don’t speak German as their first language, every page becomes an obstacle. The result: reading feels like a chore. Not an experience.
Children don’t need simpler books. They need better-fitting ones
At MichMatz, we don’t believe children are getting worse. We believe they need more variety than a rigid book can offer. MichMatz ReadMe uses artificial intelligence to adapt reading texts to each individual child. Your child picks the topic (dinosaurs, soccer, stars) and gets a story that matches their own reading level. No one-size-fits-all solution. No guessing whether the text is too hard or too easy.
AI is our tool. Not the replacement. Your child reads. We deliver the text that fits the child.
What this means for you as a parent
Transparency. You can see where your child stands. Not as an abstract grade, but concretely: Which words are difficult? Where does attention drop off? What keeps them motivated? And you’ll see that screen time can be productive. Not every minute on a tablet is wasted time. When your child reads, immerses, understands: that’s screen time worth having.
We’re not done yet. And we say that openly
MichMatz ReadMe is in Beta. Not everything is finished. But the direction is clear: reading should be an experience, not an obstacle. We’re building this product because, as fathers and as families of teachers, we see what’s missing every single day. If you want to know when Early Access launches, sign up for our newsletter. No spam, just launch updates.
Rethinking reading. For your child. That’s our vision.
The MichMatz Team