Examples of e-books?

Another e-mail...

Hello Doug,
We loved your presentation to librarians in Jefferson County Colorado last Fall; so inspiring!
On that note, I have a request.
Our 4th graders are creating their own e books on the People and Land of Africa.
Do you know of any good examples of ebooks out there I can show them?
Our ebooks are starting to look like boring Powerpoints....
If these ebooks look better than now, I will send you a copy or two to share with other librarians.
Thank you so much!

MeLISsa
If you would hit the mark you must aim a little above it. Henry Wadsworth  Longfellow

Hi MeLISsa,
Thanks so much for the kind words about the Jeff Co. workshops. I know I had fun so I hope others did as well.

This will probably date me, but I still think the gold standard in electronic books was (is?) the product Living Books. As I remember, these versions of popular children's books had some of the following characteristics that really took advantage of their electronic formats including:

•     the stories were read aloud.
•     the words that were selected would be read aloud.
•     the books were in multiple languages.
•     the illustrations were animated.
•     the books were FUN.

I would suggest one additional benefit to student-produced electronic books – they can be easily shared with the public for comment. Check out one of our middle school’s Mini-Mysteries.

Rather than the kids using PowerPoint for their books, they might use simple web authoring software and post them online (with proper privacy issues addressed). Not only could they be shared, buy they could embed a podcast of them reading the story, links to other materials, and even animated illustrations.

I am going to post your letter and my reply to the Blue Skunk. Readers have better examples and ideas than I’ve been able to supply.

I would love to see what you come up with as a final product!

Thanks for writing and all the best,

Doug

Comments

[Graham Wegner]

My two young sons still enjoy Living Books, especially Arthur, Dr.Seuss and Franklin The Turtle where extra activities and features are bundled along with the actual story. However, I don't think that Powerpoint is necessarily a bad tool for the construction of e-books. Powerpoint has had a bad rap from a lot of people but that's because it is really easy to misuse by relying on the templates, clip art and those terrible sound effects. But there are so many features that make it a terrific tool including the ability to embed video snippets, to link from different pages (choose your own adventure, anyone?) and the embedding of your own images into the background. This term I worked with Year 1's and 2's to produce an Aboriginal dreaming story retold in their own words - using their own images and discreetly utilising the text effects to reveal the story bit by bit, Powerpoint proved to be an excellent tool. In my experience, there is a very short learning curve with PP compared to many other software programs, especially with younger students. Once they have mastered that, the story telling can become the focus instead of all the bells and whistles - that's where the teacher comes in.

[Christopher Harris]

ICDL - the Internet Children's Digital Library at http://www.icdlbooks.org/ has a wealth of e-books for children.

[Doug Johnson]

Hi Graham,

I agree to a large degree with you about PowerPoint. But I still miss HyperStudio since it somehow was less insistently linear. I know you can embed links in PPT, but it has always seemed unnatural. (Although PPT is easy to share on the web!)

All the best,

Doug

[Melissa Swenson]

Thank you for all the great ideas and ebook suggestions! We were re-energized to continue with our Africa country ebooks.
I am noticing that there are not near as many non-fiction ebooks out there yet, which surprises me in that most non-fiction readers would be motivated and interested in a more interactive format.
I found an ebook on an African folktale which I thought would be perfect, after looking at it carefully, it was merely (like many ebooks) scanned pictures of the book.
Our rubric for our 4th graders ebooks require the students to include a hyperlinked Table of Contents, Glossary/Bold words and an Index. Also a link to a website and a short video clip. We are looking for a Power point template that looks like a book(pages that turn...)Any ideas?
The format still needs to be "spruced" up, but what fun to include all the components of a non-fiction text into an interactive "ebook."
Your ideas are inspiring. Thanks!

[Cami Shellhart]

There are some interesting Ebooks on a website -
starfall.com. Check them out and see what you think. They are interactive and geared for early primary students.