# Children's Books



## dsalerni (Dec 18, 2008)

I'm still making my decision regarding a Kindle, and I just recently discovered something disappointing that caused me to cross off one of the "advantages" I had in my mental list.  I'm a fifth grade teacher, and I read a lot of children's books.  In my last reading unit, I was teaching 6 different novels between my two Language Arts classes, and I thought -- how great it would be if all 6 novels were loaded on a Kindle.  No shuffling books; I could carry them easily back and forth between home and school, etc.

Then I discovered that none of the 6 books were available on Kindle.  I started checking all the titles that I have ever taught with my class ... and found only one.  Even a recently published and highly popular book like Peter and the Starcatchers was not available.

I guess I understand.  Nobody buys Kindles for fifth graders.  While I was doing my search, I did hit the button that says "please request this book on Kindle" for every book.  I don't know how much good that will do.

Those of you with more experience with Kindle ... do you envision children's books moving to Kindle format any time in the near future?


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## pidgeon92 (Oct 27, 2008)

It's completely up to the book publishers. I suggest you write directly to them and see what their plans are to begin publishing via e-book. Seems to me a lot of publishers are reluctant to let go of their current business model.


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## dsalerni (Dec 18, 2008)

pidgeon92 said:


> Seems to me a lot of publishers are reluctant to let go of their current business model.


And that's in spite of the fact that their current business model isn't working for them! 

Most recent news about Houghton-Mifflin-Harcourt, for instance, is that they're not signing any new books, and their parent company will probably sell them as a defunct publishing house with a substantial backlist and no future prospects.

Yikes.


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## Lizzy (Nov 26, 2008)

Do the kids have the books to? If so you wont be able to refer to page numbers because the kindle uses locations instead. Unless amazon comes out with a student version i think that the kindle is best just for personal reading.


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## Eclectic Reader (Oct 28, 2008)

dsalerni said:


> Those of you with more experience with Kindle ... do you envision children's books moving to Kindle format any time in the near future?


In the future--probably, when the price comes down, and when it becomes affordable to start targeting kids as a potential market.

In the *near* future--probably not so much.

I'm a children's librarian, and the first thing I did when pondering a Kindle was to check out the children's books published on the K. Since kids aren't the primary marketing target, it seems most children's titles are ones that are classics or out in the public domain. But, I *was* pleasantly surprised by some of the titles that *had* been Kindled.

I've contacted at least 2 children's/YA authors in an attempt to "nudge" them in the K direction. They were responsive, but both said it was the publishers that were balking.

I've found that more YA titles are being Kindled than children's titles. I guess it makes sense--more YAs are likely to own a K than a child.

Meanwhile...I keep clicking for titles to be Kindled.


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## Guest (Dec 21, 2008)

It seems much more likely to happen to me if some later version of the Kindle allows color pictures.


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## dsalerni (Dec 18, 2008)

Ah, the lack of page numbers would probably hamper group discussions.  Good to know.

I realize the Kindle is probably best for personal reading, but if I could use it to make my job easier, I could justify the cost to myself ... sort of!

I have noticed that Teen titles are far more prevalent than children or YA titles.  And the difference between "children" and "YA" seems to vary by publisher/book seller.  In some cases Young Adult means 9-12, and that would explain why those titles are not Kindled.

As for the authors themselves, unless they are indie, they have no control over whether or not the title goes to Kindle.  They probably have no rights in the matter at all.

Interestingly enough, the only book on the list of novels I regularly teach that I could find on Kindle was an obscure book called Akiko on the Planet Smoo, by Mark Crilley and published by Yearling.  I'll have to do some research and see if other books by that publisher have been Kindled ...

** Back already! ** Yearling seems to have a lot of children's books on Kindle. Good for them!


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

dsalerni,

you should check out www.edukindle.com.  It's a web site devoted to uses of Kindle in education.  Maybe there'll be something there that you can use. . .or sways your decision maker 

Ann


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## marianneg (Nov 4, 2008)

dsalerni said:


> Those of you with more experience with Kindle ... do you envision children's books moving to Kindle format any time in the near future?


I can't picture it until the device is _much_ cheaper and quite a bit more rugged. Someday, but it'll be several years.


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## Gertie Kindle (Nov 6, 2008)

dsalerni said:


> Ah, the lack of page numbers would probably hamper group discussions. Good to know.


I'm going to be holding a Harry Potter Book Club at the elementary school after Christmas break. At first I was thinking how nice it would be to have the HP books Kindleized for this; so easy to highlight and bookmark as well as search. But then I reluctantly came to the same conclusion. I couldn't say to the kids, turn to location 2154.


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## dsalerni (Dec 18, 2008)

Ann,

Thanks for the tip about www.edukindle.com.
I will check that out!


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## Erich (Dec 26, 2008)

marianner said:


> I can't picture it until the device is _much_ cheaper and quite a bit more rugged. Someday, but it'll be several years.


True. Right now people do not want to spend the money on this fabulous device. Once it becomes mainstream, then more books will be published. All sorts of books will then be converted into ebook formats.


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## MonaSW (Nov 16, 2008)

gertiekindle said:


> I'm going to be holding a Harry Potter Book Club at the elementary school after Christmas break. At first I was thinking how nice it would be to have the HP books Kindleized for this; so easy to highlight and bookmark as well as search. But then I reluctantly came to the same conclusion. I couldn't say to the kids, turn to location 2154.


Nevermind that Rowling hasn't yet permitted an electronic version to be published.


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## dsalerni (Dec 18, 2008)

MonaSW said:


> Nevermind that Rowling hasn't yet permitted an electronic version to be published.


Is it Rowling herself making that decision or her publisher? I expect that the publisher makes the decision in most cases, but Rowling probably has a lot more power than your average author! Has any official statement been made regarding this ban on Harry e-books?

I could possibly see the rationale back when HP books were still being written and released. But now that the series has concluded, it seems extremely silly to shut out the Kindle market. It's money in her pocket.


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## Mike D. aka jmiked (Oct 28, 2008)

dsalerni said:


> Has any official statement been made regarding this ban on Harry e-books?


Yes. Rowling herself has said she isn't allowing the electronic publications of her works.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8218248

Mike


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## Mike D. aka jmiked (Oct 28, 2008)

I want the illustrated Winnie the Pooh for the Kindle. And I want it NOW!

Mike


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## dsalerni (Dec 18, 2008)

jmiked said:


> Yes. Rowling herself has said she isn't allowing the electronic publications of her works.
> 
> http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8218248
> 
> Mike


Thanks, Mike.
That's an interesting article. So ... there's no market for children's e-books. Might that be because there are so few children's e-books? Vicious circle, there!

I see the point, though.

As for children reading electronic books, I am going to give that a try with my top reading group when I introduce Sherlock Holmes in the spring. Last year, I bought used copies of Sherlock Holmes collections for the 4 students in my highest reading group. But this year, I have 9 students in that group. So, to save money, I found a website where they can read the unedited texts of all the Holmes stories (they are in the public domain), and I am going to assign the kids to read online. We'll see how well they like the experience -- or whether they start clamoring for the 4 paper copies I have.


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## Gertie Kindle (Nov 6, 2008)

dsalerni said:


> Thanks, Mike.
> That's an interesting article. So ... there's no market for children's e-books. Might that be because there are so few children's e-books? Vicious circle, there!


JKR has come up with several different excuses, the first one being that she was afraid the books would be pirated. There's more danger of that now than there would be if she allowed e-books.

She also wants children to have the experience of holding a paper book. I don't know about other parents, but I wouldn't buy my 10 or 11 year old a Kindle, and I'm sure I'm in the majority.

I think she just wants to be in control. She's incredibly generous and caring, but she's also very controlling.



> As for children reading electronic books, I am going to give that a try with my top reading group when I introduce Sherlock Holmes in the spring. Last year, I bought used copies of Sherlock Holmes collections for the 4 students in my highest reading group. But this year, I have 9 students in that group. So, to save money, I found a website where they can read the unedited texts of all the Holmes stories (they are in the public domain), and I am going to assign the kids to read online. We'll see how well they like the experience -- or whether they start clamoring for the 4 paper copies I have.


What age group are you talking about? Let us know how that goes.


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## Eclectic Reader (Oct 28, 2008)

dsalerni said:


> As for children reading electronic books, I am going to give that a try with my top reading group when I introduce Sherlock Holmes in the spring. Last year, I bought used copies of Sherlock Holmes collections for the 4 students in my highest reading group. But this year, I have 9 students in that group. So, to save money, I found a website where they can read the unedited texts of all the Holmes stories (they are in the public domain), and I am going to assign the kids to read online. We'll see how well they like the experience -- or whether they start clamoring for the 4 paper copies I have.


Please post on the board about your experience. I, too, would be *very* interested in how the students found the ebook experience vs. the paper copies. (My guess is that initially they'd think it "cool" to read the books online. But after a while, they might not care for it as much as a paper copy. Now, on Kindle, it might be another story.  But I think it's a way down the road for Kindles to be cheap enough to make it available for a lot of kids to own a Kindle).


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## Gertie Kindle (Nov 6, 2008)

Eclectic Reader said:


> Please post on the board about your experience. I, too, would be *very* interested in how the students found the ebook experience vs. the paper copies. (My guess is that initially they'd think it "cool" to read the books online. But after a while, they might not care for it as much as a paper copy. Now, on Kindle, it might be another story.  But I think it's a way down the road for Kindles to be cheap enough to make it available for a lot of kids to own a Kindle).


I thought my grandson (age 10) would love reading on my K. Not at all. He prefers his paper books. I even let him choose his own book (The Warriors #1) and he only read the first page.


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## dsalerni (Dec 18, 2008)

Eclectic Reader said:


> Please post on the board about your experience. I, too, would be *very* interested in how the students found the ebook experience vs. the paper copies. (My guess is that initially they'd think it "cool" to read the books online. But after a while, they might not care for it as much as a paper copy. Now, on Kindle, it might be another story.  But I think it's a way down the road for Kindles to be cheap enough to make it available for a lot of kids to own a Kindle).


These are 5th graders -- the most advanced ones I have. I am betting that your prediction is right on the money. The novelty of reading Sir Arthur Conan Doyle on the computer will get them through the unit, but they will probably be relieved to get back to paper books.

And of course, reading on the computer isn't as convenient and comfortable as reading on a Kindle. (And don't even get me started talking about the outdated computers and lousy network we have at school!)

Dianne


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