Who’s celebrating the 100th anniversary of Children’s Book Week? The Library of Congress! They’ve launched a new collection: Children’s Book Selections that include seventy-one treasures. What will you find? Classic and lesser-known works published in the United States and England before 1924. These historical and rare books span many generations and topics. Themes include learning to read, reading to learn and reading for fun. They are all available for you to read, share, and reuse how you like. What to look for? Highlights include examples from England’s golden age of book illustration. From Randolph Caldecott and Walter Crane, as well as works from American illustrators, like W. W. Denslow and Peter Newell. This delightful collection offers a record of the past. Books are available for download in multiple formats. In Peter Newell’s The Rocket Book, rhyming text accompanies illustrations that incorporate holes in the center of each page. See…
Tag: eBooks
Where to Find Free Children’s eBooks
It seems like even the family cat has access to a device, so it’s no surprise that even our youngest readers are utilizing eBooks. While our library collections are full of exciting new content (read along ebooks, beginning readers, and picture books to name just a few), sometimes nothing hits the quality reading spot quite like sharing a classic title. And best of all, there’s no such thing as a holds queue when reading classics with a free and legal public domain download. Where can I find free titles? So many books, so little time! You want to make sure you’re using yours effectively. Whether you’re reading on a phone, tablet, dedicated e-reader, or desktop computer you’ll find more than enough titles for your “for later” list. You’ll find public domain titles on multiple sites, so it’s really all about the reading experience. It’s a bit like choosing your phone’s operating…
Encouraging young listeners with downloadable and streaming audiobooks
Downloadable and streaming audiobooks have been on my mind again. Recently, some articles came out about the benefits of audiobooks for literacy; a revelation that probably surprised few of us in children’s and school library services. We did not create the Odyssey awards for nothing. ALA Editions published a wonderful book about it by Sharon Grover and Lizette D. Hannegan “back” in 2012. Last year, Rachel Wood from Arlington Public Library wrote an ALSC Blog post that stands as a primer for building an e-audio collection. But it always feels like a topic needs to come around a few times before the greater profession and the greater public latches on. Perhaps it is not always content that is the way to hook a reluctant reader but format too. Dan Cohen from the DPLA wrote an article for The Atlantic talking about the powerful role that smartphones play in the lives…
Opening Digital Doors with Open eBooks
Last month a huge step toward getting every child in America access to amazing books was taken with the official launch of Open eBooks! The White House announced the news to the excitement of librarians, educators and families across the United States on February 24th. Open eBooks is part of the White House ConnectED Initiative which aims to increase access to digital resources as a component of enriching K-12 education. You can read the official press release here. The project is made possible through a partnership with the Digital Public Library of America (DPLA), the New York Public Library, Baker and Taylor, First Book, and made possible by generous commitments of publishers with funding support provided in part by the Institute of Museum and Library Services and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. What a great example of many institutions coming together for a greater cause! The Open eBooks app is now available…