You can read or listen to a lot of books without even leaving home if you have a computer or other device like an iPad. Authors & publishers have started making some whole books available online. Here are some to get you started:
Funbrain.com Diary of a Wimpy Kid The Diary of a Wimpy Kid series started on the website funbrain.com in 2004. The first three print books, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Rodrick Rules & The Last Straw are based on the online version. The print versions are improved…more story, more pictures, etc., but you can still read a lot about Greg online.
Watch and Listen to Neil Gaiman Read The Graveyard Book
With your Indianapolis library card you can download free e-books to your computer. Look at a list of the book choices. (Scroll down the left side until you see the section “Browse eBook Fiction” and then choose “Juvenile Fiction.” If a book is available you can add it to your cart & then check it out. You can choose to keep the e-book from 7-21 days. The book will automatically return itself at the end of the loan period.
Funbrain.com Amelia Writes Again
International Children’s Digital Library: The Secret Garden
International Children’s Digital Library: Heidi
International Children’s Digital Library: Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland
Read or Listen to The Exquisite Corpse Adventure
Harper Collins Browse Inside: Try Before You Buy
At Browse Inside you can read the first few chapters of a lot of books. They do have some full books available. Click on the tab “Full Access” to see the books that are available from beginning to end. Right now, for kids, the full access book choices are:
- Jake Ransom and the Skull King’s Shadow
- Molly Moon, Micky Minus & the Mind Machine
- Beezus and Ramona
If I come across any new ones I’ll let you know.
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FYI – the link for “book choices” led me to an error page on the IMCPL’s website that said “We’re sorry, but we are unable to display the page requested.”
By the way, this is a very useful introduction to children’s eBooks. As someone who is close to the industry (I founded an online reading game for kids called Pocket Tales), I’ve noticed that this year we’re getting very close to the tipping point of digital kid literature going mainstream. I’m glad to see IMCPL is on top of it.