In our ever changing society, people have books literally at their fingertips in a multitude of ways. These may be physical books upon a shelf, however, they may also be eBooks accessed online or via an app.
I had the opportunity to explore a variety of books on different platforms:
The Tale of Peter Rabbit on Project Gutenberg (gutenberg.org) wasn't very interactive. It featured illustrations (both in color and black and white) and small text.
Aesop's Fables and The Wonderful Wizard of Oz were both featured on manybooks.net. These were text heavy books without illustrations.
A Tale of Summer Holidays was found on digilibraries.com. It featured some small black and white illustrations, but was very text heavy.
Finally, I explored Bax and His Bubbles: All About a Kid and His Thoughts from centslessbooks.com. This was a cute story that could provide support for an SEL lesson. It had a good message and bright illustrations. I would use this with my kindergarten class.
After exploring these five texts, I do not think I would use some of these website for my kindergarten class. Several of these sites have a limited selection of children's books. The books that I reviewed did not have many illustrations (if any) and were not interactive in nature. Several of the books also seemed a bit outdated. Even if the stories are still relevant to today's youth, their presentation doesn't look very enticing or appealing for kids. I think the kindle books (such as Bax and His Bubbles: All About a Kid and His Thoughts) seem more appropriate for children with more engaging illustrations and limited text. They emulate picture books that kids may be familiar with.
I noticed that many of the eBooks are reliant upon the kindle app. If schools or districts use these, it should be accessible for all students in some capacity in order to promote equity.
In order to still connect my students with books while learning at home throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, I did use a variety of online eBooks. (Thankfully, my district issued technological devices to all students so that they may all have access to these online resources.) Our district used the myOn app and Sora app which allowed students to read or listen to stories online. I also sought out the Epic website (getepic.com). Similarly, this site has a great selection of fiction and non-fiction texts that can be read by the student or read to the student. The narrator uses character-based voices, and also, kids can click on words to read their definitions. These features enhance the text and do not distract from it. Even though we have returned to in-person learning, I still love using Epic to support our learning in kindergarten! I found it was a great school resource, and students can access it at home as well!
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