Hello lissahkasch-ga!
I sympathize with your plight! I know how hard it can be to find
quality, age appropriate books for kids at the library. At my local
library, more often than not, the books I am looking for are already
on loan, located at another branch, or completely unavailable.
I have looked into buying the books, but purchasing 52 or more new
books each year can be quite expensive!
I think your idea on using online books as a resource is a brilliant
one! I am planning on pursuing this as well.
Two of my children are "reluctant readers", and I think that perhaps
reading stories off of the computer might make it seem less like
"work" and more recreational like.
Here are some e-book resources that I think you will find useful:
1.) http://www.free-books.org/children.htm
"More than 100,000 pages
of free books and teaching materials."
This site has works from authors such as Mark Twain, and has titles
such as;
The adventures of Huckleberry Finn, The Jungle Book, The legend of
Sleepy Hollow, The Emperor's new Clothes, The gift of the Magi and
Black Beauty.
http://www.free-books.org/aboutus.htm
This page gives you information on what this site has to offer, for
example;
Over 1000 Classic books reformatted to Peterson Ewriting styles
Over 10,000 photographs divided into curriculum topic
All the ebooks on this site are done by using The Project Gutenberg
eTexts.
(More information about The Project Gutenberg can be found at
http://promo.net/pg/)
The background is white, and the fonts are bold, black and easy to
read.
The text aligned on the left, with no more than a sentence or a few
words per line. This might take some getting used to for a young
reader who is used to the typical layout of regular books. But it
might prove useful if your child has a habit of reading the same lines
more than once, skipping lines, or uses their finger to keep their
place in the line or on the page.
2.) http://www.storyplus.com/Home.asp
StoryPlus is a team of writers/illustrators, man of which are
professional educators with previously published works.
http://www.storyplus.com/FAQ.asp
Excerpts from Frequently Asked questions about StoryPlus:
"The base price for a story is 1 US$ for a plain text version. Stories
with illustrations, animation, or audio recordings cost more. "
"Every StoryPlus story is available for purchase in one of many of the
following formats: TEXT ONLY, ILLUSTRATED TEXT, AUDIO VERSION &
ILLUSTRATED TEXT, or BILINGUAL TEXT"
"You can download a story as many times as you like for up to 30 days
after you have purchased it. If you wish to print out any text or
illustrated text version, you will need the latest version of Adobe
Acrobat, 5.0 installed on your computer."
"StoryPlus members receive discounts on all their purchases made
through the StoryPlus site. Members also receive discount coupons, our
monthly newsletter, and can access the Family Portrait feature. The
savings generated from membership quickly offset the cost of
membership."
If your join their StoryPlus Reading Club, you can get an unlimited
download of stories for a full year (text only and illustrated text)
for 29.95 USD
They offer a few free sample books to give you an idea of the quality
of the work. You might want to check the free books out first, to make
sure this is the type of eBooks your looking for. I previewed one of
their books entitled "Jasper's Journey"
(http://www.storyplus.com/Stories/Story/136/{C271BEA4-1727-43EA-9E94-20900A8DED8C}.pdf)
by Charles Vald and illustrated by Sanja Rescek. A very nice book, in
pdf format, which is listed as age appropriate for ages 5-12. The age
range they give is rather broad, and I think it's probably best suited
for ages 7-9. It has pages laid out in "typical book" fashion, with
both text and illustrations on the page, and you simply scroll down to
go to the next page.
3.) http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/browse/-/509384/music88/102-8686438-5344132
amazon.com's e-Books for children.
This has over 800 ebooks available for download. Prices for each book
vary, but the highest price being 17.50 and the lowest being 1.99,
with the majority of the books being priced under 5 USD. The books
come in various formats, so you may need to download the Adobe Reader
(http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html) (which is free)
or Microsoft Reader.
(http://www.microsoft.com/reader/downloads/pc.asp)
The benefit of going this route, is that you would be able to buy
ebooks by current best-selling authors.
Check out http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/feature/-/167563/ref=eb_hp_rs_1_1/102-8686438-5344132
if you would like more information about purchasing and downloading
e-books from amazon.com
4.) http://www.ebookmall.com/categories/CATID24.htm
ebookmall
With prices similar to that of amazon.com's ebooks, ebookmall offers a
variety of popular titles by best-selling authors. The ebooks come in
a variety of formats such as adobe reader, microsoft reader, adobe
pdf, gemstar ebooks, html, hiebook, instant ebook, microsoft word,
plain text, and a few formats for palm pc's and pda's.
YOu can check out their selection of free ebooks if you would like to
sample before buying.
You may also opt to join their eBook club, where you pay a one time
fee of 19.95 USD and receive a lifetime membership and can download
2500 eBooks.http://www.ebookmall.com/ebooks-list.htm (Books included
in the eBook Club offer)
5.)http://ebooks.barnesandnoble.com/ms_reader/special_features/free_young_ebooks.asp?userid=0GO3MX7KMT
Barnes & Noble offer a few free ebooks for children/young adults for
Microsoft Reader.
6.) http://www.hypertext.com/hypertext/ebooks/cat.asp?id=3&tabVar=fe
hypertext.com's list of free children's ebooks.
Their books are available in various formats such as txt, doc, zip,
pdf, or you may read the book online.
7.) http://www.readinga-z.com/newfiles/preview.html
30 books that you can download, print and assemble.
8.) http://www.homeschool.com/resources/DedicatedTeacher/default.asp
homeschool.com offers a coupon for a total of 20% off eBook and
Material for Homeschoolers from DedicatedTeacher.com
(http://www.dedicatedteacher.com/estore/search/)
In addition to eBooks, you might also want to consider obtaining
children's books through other sources.
Here are some other ideas you might be interested in:
Book clubs/ Book of the month clubs:
1.) http://www.cbomc.com/doc/full_site_enrollment/fse_homepage.jhtml
Children's Book-of-the-Month Club
Offers
2.) http://www.scholastic.com/atschool/clubs/whatis.htm
Scholastic Book of the Month club.
I highly recommend this! I always remember looking forward to my books
arriving each month. And even after 25 years, the books remain in
excellent condition and are enjoyed by my own kids. Scholastic offers
books for as little as 95 cents per book and savings of up to 50% off
on software. The big bonus is that there is no shipping or handling
charges!
You can call Scholastic toll-free at 1-800-SCHOLASTIC (1-800-724-6527)
and they will help you get started by sending you a catalog.
Discount Children's books;
http://www.bookcloseouts.com/bc/Subjects.asp?cat_id=Children&rid=bcd
Bargain book closeouts
Has a variety of children's books that you can purchase for as little
as 1.99 per book. (not including shipping costs)
eBay
http://listings.ebay.com/aw/plistings/list/category1093/index.html?from=R4
This is an excellent resource for finding great deals on new and used
children's books. You must be a registered eBay member in order to bid
on auctions, and it is probably best to have some sort of online
payment account such as paypal, since most sellers these days prefer
doing transactions online. If you don't find an online payment service
as a viable option, many sellers will still accept money orders, and
some will even take personal checks.
Remember that with eBay your usually buying from an individual, as
opposed to a Company. Be sure to read the fine print in the auction
listings, and keep in mind shipping handling charges before you place
your bid. I have found from personal experience that it's best to ask
the seller about their s/h rates first, before you bid on an auction
that doesn't give a set rate for s/h charges or an estimate.
Most sellers will choose to ship the books using media rate or parcel
post (which is cheapest) but some may give you the option of shipping
Priority.
This is also a great resource for getting books in bulk. Perhaps the
seller might be offering bookstore closeouts, or a collection of an
individual's personal collection that they no longer want.
(Some tips on finding the best deals on ebay)
Once your in the category you want, such as children's books, in the
search box on the left of the page, try typing in things like the
words such as "new" or "lot"(without quotes). New should only bring up
books with the word new in the title, which in this case, should bring
up new books for sale, however you will pull up a few "Like new" ect.
And when searching for "Lot", you should bring up a list of single
auctions for multiple books.
Here are some examples of such searches:
When searching for the word Lot
http://search.ebay.com/ws/search/SaleSearch?satitle=lot&catref=C3&ht=1&sosortproperty=1&from=R10&sacategory=1093&BasicSearch=
When searching for the word New
http://search.ebay.com/ws/search/SaleSearch?satitle=new&catref=C3&ht=1&sosortproperty=1&from=R10&sacategory=1093&BasicSearch=
Best of luck to you in building your library of children's literature,
whether they be on the computer or on the bookshelf!
If you have any questions about the information in which I have
provided, do feel free to request a clarification of my answer.
And please be sure to allow me enough time to respond to your
clarification request before rating the answer.
Thanks so much!
chellphill-ga
Search Terms Used:
children's ebooks
free children's ebooks
ebook clubs
homeschool ebooks
book club's
book +of +the month clubs
used children's books |
