Books, Online
We know that kids spend time online, even youngish ones, and in some online activities there is literacy skills involved. Of course, we also know that reading entire stories is extremely good for their reading level, their understanding of narrative, and building imagination, crucial to creative problem-solving later on. The interesting thing is that with ebooks and online marketing becoming huge for publishers, their is more harmony of print and screen than ever, and it can be a match made in heaven in the effort to get your computer-loving child reading more books.
To begin with, publishers are using teasers, trailers, and sneak peeks to build reader interest in many titles. This means that if you've heard of a book, or seen it in a store briefly, but had no time to look at it in detail, you can easily find out more about it to help you make an informed choice about putting it on hold or purchasing it. These excerpts, trailers, and page views are often found on their websites.
A few examples include Random House, who excerpts many of its novels, HarperCollins, who offers a Browse Inside features that lets you read chapters or see enough pages of a picture book to get a sense of it, and Chronicle, who posts trailers and page views for picture books. (Take a sneak peek at Goodnight, Goodnight Construction Site and Press Here, a big favourite of mine.)
Chronicle also uses Scribd, a site that allows for posting of trailers and online books. While Chronicle links to them from their own site, you can also browse scribd.com to find excerpts and entire books. Searching under the genre of children's books and stories will net you plenty of classic fare that can be read online, as well as some fun, silly kids books that are only available online.
Book trailers being videos, can also, of course, be found on YouTube, where several canny publishers have their own channels specifically for children's books, making them safe places for kids to browse, too. Look there for Macmillan, Harper, and Thomas Lee, for starters. There are also lots of children's books read alooud on YouTube, though these are usually done by individuals, so it's worth taking a look at them first, and being aware that they may be violating copyright, as well. This trailer for the amazing book of animal photography Creature is one of my favourites, and a great one for kids. (It also comes as a wonderful ABC book for kids.)
Finally, don't forget the library, a natural source for kids' reading material, even online!
Some books have also been opened up completely online for you to read, either by the publisher, or in an online service like Tumblebooks, availble through our Kids' Space site. Here you can read electronic books for children, just like ebooks for adults, online. It's a great way to allow your kid screen time without opening the wide world of the internet to them, if they are clamouring to be on the computer. We also offer virtual books, stories to listen to, and links to authors' websites on our Kids' Space site, as well as an ever-increasing number of ebooks for kids that can be downloaded onto your computer or ereader on our ebook service, Overdrive.
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