Reading is Epic!

One of my favorite apps at the moment is Epic! This free app allows teachers to set up accounts for their classes to access what has been described as a Netflix for children's books. The app is truly amazing and my children love it. There are books, audiobooks, and videos from popular fiction and non-fiction authors and publishers. When a reading app is free, I tend to balk since the quality can be questionable. Not so in this case. It is a breeze to set up the accounts and make reading lists for individuals or whole classes. Teachers can monitor what students read and view and how long it takes them to do so. 

Of course, there is always a catch. The app is only available during school hours. If you try to log in too early in the morning, in the evening, or on weekends you are out of luck. If you don't want to pay for the family subscription, which quite honestly is not very expensive, there are other alternatives for accessing similar high-quality content. Storyline Online has members of the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) narrate animated versions of popular children's books. If your public or school library subscribes to BookFlix, TrueFlix, or TumbleBooks you can access these digital resources for free. Access to ebooks and audiobooks may also be available through your local public or school library through OverDrive. There are many viable options to supplement the content in the Epic app.

Children and reading

I have been wondering for a long time how ereaders will impact reading in the home. My dad wasn't a big library user, but bought book and magazines that interested him. My mother, on the other hand, rarely bought books, but frequently took us to the public library when we were little. My parents always found extra money when it came to the monthly book club flyers that my brother and I would bring home from school. There was plenty for me to pick up and read around the house.

As a life-long reader I own quite a few books. Buying books seems like a good move until you have to move. I have begun switching to ebooks for many purchases and avoiding buying fiction titles that I will most likely only read once. Despite this switch in formats, I have invested in print children's books that never seem to go out of fashion and my daughter (due in the fall) already has an enviable library in her room.

Over the last few days I have been clearing out a massive pile of magazines that have been building up. My husband says I am a marketer's nightmare as my interests run quite a gamut, but we can't make their job easy, can we? The thought crossed my mind more than once that as I make the switch to ebooks and audiobooks for much of my reading (especially with the super cheap daily deals), what will be lying around the house for my daughter to pick up? We certainly aren't going paperless, but I will have to make a concerted effort to continue print magazine subscriptions in those topics that I may want her to stumble across (Popular Science, cooking, crafts) and may benefit from keeping others out of her hands at too young of an age (my fashion fix) by subscribing to the emagazine. I do intend on ordering the print children's magazines even if the digital version is available and look forward to her getting her first mail.

I suppose that we will have to address this issue down the road, but it makes one wonder how ereaders will change how children read in the home.

Little Free Libraries

My husband and I can't seem to pass one of those Little Free Libraries without taking a peek inside. It is always entertaining to see what titles are in there on that particular day. Unfortunately, not all of them are being well received.

Unintentional Techie

It cracks me up whenever someone else or myself thinks of me as a "techie". It doesn't seem like that long ago when the elementary computer class seemed so intimidating, even if we were just playing Oregon Trail and doing basic skills. I learned to type on a typewriter (ok, it was electric) as a freshman and we got our first computer around that same time. I learned programs in Mac Applications senior year (1998) that I don't think even exist anymore. Coding seemed so intimidating, although now I wish I had taken the computer science classes. Email in college was basic and journal article research was a mix of new material available online and rolling apart shelves to get to the bound volumes. By the end of grad school (2003), IM was still all the rage, distance education courses were picking up and you still had to be in college to get on Facebook.

I realized one key thing that took me from "tech is ok" to "I can do this" - realizing I can't break it. Oh, you can very easily lose whatever you are working on, but unless you physically drop the computer or device it is very hard to break it. Understanding this simple notion can be quite liberating. I learned how to use computers because I had to. It was part of the curriculum and I just picked it up along the way.

People assume that certain age groups are genetically predisposed to using technology and others are too far over the hill to get it. That couldn't be further from the truth. I teach high schoolers and university students and have seen these lines blurred many times. Some teens are resistant to technology and some AARP members are some of the most creative technology users I know.

I constantly tell my university students, many of whom are distance ed, that I make them use technology to try something new. I grade on content, not the scary program they were forced to use. I'm constantly reminding them that it is great that their teen helped them import the pictures, but they must learn how to do it for themselves because junior won't be at work with them. It is a tough job market out there and being afraid of technology just isn't an option anymore. My ultimate goal with my courses is not to just impart wit and wisdom - it's to prepare them for their dream job. Social media is critical for outreach to patrons and e-readers are taking a large portion of the market. Web 2.0 tools can take a library program from good to fantastic - often for free.

Technology isn't replacing libraries - it is making them evolve. Yes, it can be overwhelming at times, but it isn't impossible. Dismissing technology as something for the young or computer geeks isn't cute, funny, or professional. It is now a mandatory part of our job. You don't have to be Bill Gates, Steve Jobs or Mark Zuckerberg. You just have to remember you can't break it - so what's the worst that could happen?

Audiobooks

Ah, audiobooks. I love'em. I forget how I started getting into them, but I became an addict quickly. Frankly, I don't have time to read. Or shouldn't, between work, dissertation, adjunct work, and all the fun things that come with being an adult. BUT I do commute (although it is a short one), work out (infrequently, but I'm trying), travel, etc., and audiobooks make all of those things more enjoyable by providing a quality distraction. Audiobooks, especially with a talented reader, have also gotten me through many titles that I may not have picked up (gotta keep up with the YA lit) or have time to read (Game of Thrones - awesome but llllooonnnggg). This past summer audiobooks made moving my entire collection for the genre-fy process more painless (thank you George R. R. Martin). Sometimes I buy audiobooks if they are on clearance somewhere (CDs still work best in my car), download from iTunes or, most frequently, download them from the public library. I haven't been inside my local library since signing up for a card, but my circulation stats are pretty high.

I'm contemplating starting an audiobook collection in my school library, beginning with the required reading titles to help out the special education students.

What are your favorite audiobooks?

The Kindle

Last year I got a Kindle and I love it. I just got a basic one since I figured I would be getting an iPad within the year or two. I never thought I would like reading books on a device, but after reading Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand on my iPhone for a book club, I realized it wasn't so bad. If the story is engaging, it doesn't matter what format the book is in. Oh, and moving last year helped me decide to investigate ebooks, as well. Let's not get into how many boxes there were of just cookbooks, but children's books are the only thing I buy in paper format anymore if I can help it.

What do I like about reading on a Kindle?

• Battery life - absolutely insane
• Easy to hold when lying down
• Adjustable print size - my vision is very good, but it is nice to be able to adjust the print size and screen contrast
• Storage - frees up so much space in the house
• Cheap ebooks - Kindle Daily Deals get me trouble quickly - and books needed for my dissertation were cheaper in e-format
• Free ebooks - so easy to download from the public library
• Kindle apps - I can use any of my devices to pick up reading right where I left off

What device do you use for e-reading and where do you get your books from?