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Book Challenges: Print, Buy, Interloan, or Kindle?

Medieval Mom

By Medieval Mom,
in K-8 Curriculum Board

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What would you do for an avid young reader?  

  1. 1. What would you do for an avid young reader?

    • Buy a laser printer and print ebooks.
      2
    • Buy an ereader (such as Kindle); download ebooks.
      38
    • Wait patiently for interlibrary loans.
      2
    • Replace booklist titles with titles that are availabe through the library.
      7
    • Other
      3

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Medieval Mom

Medieval Mom

Posted
Posted (edited)

We're following (basically, with some modifications) Ambleside Online. Many of the "classics" on our free reading booklists, as well as many of the books suggested in our SOTW AG, are unavailable in our library system. So, for an avid reader of the age of 7-8, what do *you* do? (Or what *would* you do?)

 

PLEASE take it as a given, that we already haunt any and all sources of used books for available titles within our budget, and check out as many titles as we can from the library. Up to this point, I've used interlibrary loan, but the loan period is only 3 weeks (not long enough for lengthy books), and many books are unavailable :-(. I have also suggested titles for purchase, with limited success.

 

I'm seriously considering either investing in a printer or an ereader for this boy. Help!

 

P.S. Sorry for the typo in the poll. ;)

Edited by Medieval Mom
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Jayne J

Jayne J

Posted
Posted

I voted for the e-reader. Seems much more economical, saves paper and ink, lets you carry all the books you need for lessons wherever you go...

 

That said, I prefer real books to e-books. Less dangerous in the bathtub.:D So, I would buy as many "real" books as my budget allowed (especially the ones not in the public domain) and use the e-reader for free stuff.

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lionfamily1999

lionfamily1999

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Posted
I voted for the e-reader. Seems much more economical, saves paper and ink, lets you carry all the books you need for lessons wherever you go...

 

That said, I prefer real books to e-books. Less dangerous in the bathtub.:D So, I would buy as many "real" books as my budget allowed (especially the ones not in the public domain) and use the e-reader for free stuff.

Ziplock ;)

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abbeyej

abbeyej

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Posted

I think for those titles you just can't get used or from the library, the Kindle is a fabulous option. It's NOT my first choice for school reading -- I genuinely think that retention tends to be better with print books -- but as an alternative when print books aren't available, it's fabulous. (Plus, I love my Kindle for travel, for light reading I do... We still use a ton of print books, but my Kindle is great and very useful.)

 

I think you'd be shocked how quickly you'd spend the same amount in ink, paper, and printer wear-and-tear if you tried to print out all of those same ebooks.

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Medieval Mom

Medieval Mom

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The Kindle takes the lead!! (Ds would be THRILLED! He'd love to put some audiobooks and music mp3s on, too.)

 

How does the Kindle do in reading google books in PDF format (as opposed to epub)? I like the pdf format, in that there are no "gobbledegook" errors, the pictures are in the right places, etc. I'm just afraid that the font size will be too small for ds. :bigear:

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TKDmom

TKDmom

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Posted
Even on the pdf's? Oooh! Happy Day! :)

 

You can't actually cange the font on PDFs. But you can rotate the view. When you do that and turn the Kindle on it's side, the effect is the same as if you had zoomed in. You will only see the top half of the page, then when you hit "next page" you see the bottom half. Clear as mud?

 

You can also zoom in on PDFs without rotaing the view screen, but then you have to scroll across the screen to read the whole page, which is a big pain.

 

I can't say that I love reading PDFs on a Kindle but it sure beats tracking down some of those old books.

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Medieval Mom

Medieval Mom

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You can't actually cange the font on PDFs. But you can rotate the view. When you do that and turn the Kindle on it's side, the effect is the same as if you had zoomed in. You will only see the top half of the page, then when you hit "next page" you see the bottom half. Clear as mud?

 

You can also zoom in on PDFs without rotaing the view screen, but then you have to scroll across the screen to read the whole page, which is a big pain.

 

I can't say that I love reading PDFs on a Kindle but it sure beats tracking down some of those old books.

 

Yes, that's clear. Thank you!

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LoveBaby

LoveBaby

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I have a Kindle and *love* it! E-ink is amazing and is like reading a real book.

 

Another, less expensive option would be to check Bed, Bath & Beyond or Kohl's for a Literati reader. It's in color like an iPad and backlit (which is why I don't care for it) but my DD loves hers. It accepts ePub format and I'm pretty sure .pdf's, too.

 

Yesterday's Classics is offering all of their books in ePub or Kindle format from $1.99 and up. Cheaper than buying them in paperback. Granted, many of these are available for free on mainlesson.com or gutenberg.org, but the YC versions have been reformatted and include all illustrations. They aren't scanned copies, so they are better quality, IMO.

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Amber in AUS

Amber in AUS

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I have a voracious reader! I purchased about 30 books as go-alongs for SOTW1 & again for SOTW2, we also have a literature selection for each year and they are gobbled up in no time. We borrow our quota from the library every week! I feel your pain. Right now i am considering either an ipad or a Kindle. So far ipad is in the lead as they do PDF's better.

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TheAutumnOak

TheAutumnOak

Posted
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I am going to get a Kindle for myself, and am considering one for my ten year old, but I wouldn't get one for a 7 year old...Just my personal preference as a person who wouldn't give young kids phones, computers, or most electronics I can think of...If you are fine with young kids having electronics, then a Kindle type thing would be a good choice...

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blakereese

blakereese

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Posted

That's a tough one. This is for your second grader, right? I know my second grader wouldn't do well with an ereader yet. But it may just be because I have limited electronics type things, and I don't know how comfortable he'd be with it. Or how comfortable I'd be with him having something so pricey. I haven't even justified the price yet for me, although I think I will soon. Gotta have it to teach, ya know! :D

 

I have thought about trying to find the Literati on clearance, or something like that, but I still don't know how well he would do reading it and retaining....maybe I am making too much of it? But I know when we read things off of the computer, it is just different for him, because it is not a book. It is all lit up and fun, and oh let me touch that button, and see what happens...:tongue_smilie:. So yeh. I don't know if MY second grader is ready for an ereader.

 

But if it something you are reading aloud, I would say definitely get an ereader. It really is the easiest way to get the books you need now, especially those older, out of print titles.

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blakereese

blakereese

Posted
Posted
I voted E reader because I just think this is the way education is going. I was thinking of buying a set of presidents card for $7.89, then I realized I could get an app for .99! After my dh and I get new phones, I plan on passing my iPhone on to my kids to use only for apps.

 

Which presidents app do you have?? :001_smile:

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Mommy to monkeys

Mommy to monkeys

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Posted

I did this very thing this year.

We moved and now are nowhere near a library. I have never been able to keep up with how much my kids read. . .I'm finally AHEAD!!

 

I download tons of books from gutenberg.org or manybooks.net or archive.org. . .and there's ALWAYS something new on the kindle. . .

 

The kids have to take turns with it, so I'm seriously considering getting another. I have to wait till they go to bed to use it. It's well worth the $$

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Medieval Mom

Medieval Mom

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That's a tough one. This is for your second grader, right? I know my second grader wouldn't do well with an ereader yet. But it may just be because I have limited electronics type things, and I don't know how comfortable he'd be with it. Or how comfortable I'd be with him having something so pricey. I haven't even justified the price yet for me, although I think I will soon. Gotta have it to teach, ya know! :D

 

I have thought about trying to find the Literati on clearance, or something like that, but I still don't know how well he would do reading it and retaining....maybe I am making too much of it? But I know when we read things off of the computer, it is just different for him, because it is not a book. It is all lit up and fun, and oh let me touch that button, and see what happens...:tongue_smilie:. So yeh. I don't know if MY second grader is ready for an ereader.

 

But if it something you are reading aloud, I would say definitely get an ereader. It really is the easiest way to get the books you need now, especially those older, out of print titles.

 

Yep, this would be for my second grader; not necessarily for reading aloud, but mostly for reading on his own (he's a very strong reader). I'm considering the Kindle because it has the e-ink technology, which makes *me* feel better than handing him a backlit device. Sigh. Maybe I'd feel better about it if I bought a Kindle for myself, and let him borrow it... :D

 

I'm a bibliophile. If I had the money and the means, I'd collect all lovely hardcover editions of the books we read, and line every room in the house with barrister bookcases. But unless I win the lottery (and it's been years since I've played), that's not going to happen any time soon! :lol:

 

So, the frugal side of my nature sees all these lovely classics freely available online and I drool! They're so close, yet so far away! :tongue_smilie:

 

Looks like the Kindle fans are in the lead!!

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lionfamily1999

lionfamily1999

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Posted
Maybe I'd feel better about it if I bought a Kindle for myself, and let him borrow it... :D

 

I do this with dd. Her reading list is much easier to accomodate and I have the (free) Kindle for PC. The Kindle for PC is very important, because sometimes I don't want to hand over my Kindle :lol:

 

That's the only problem with sharing is that one or the other has to stop reading... I've found I'm not so good with taking turns ;)

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