Since books can get expensive I can't afford to build a big
library at home, but we do have some books that have been purchased new, some
we have gotten from yard sales and some that have been hand me downs.
I try to make sure to read to my children daily so that they can learn
how to enjoy the stories and eventually how to read on their own, but just like
adults children get bored without variety so I am constantly on the lookout for
new books and ways to expose my children to literature. The people
that know me best know that I am a big fan of reading. My children have
been taken to many a story time at the library and it seems like we always have
10-20 childrens books checked out at a time, but there is always that worry
that the library books will get messed up, lost or turned in late and there
will be a fee that has to be paid. So, I have also done what I can to
provide books to my children that I don't have to worry so much about and I
work with them to teach them how to handle books properly so that they will
last.
On this page you will find links to some great sites that can help
provide variety for your children FREE! “Free?” you say. “Yes,
Free!”
First I would like to introduce you to the world of TumbleBooks. This was the first place I found free books and I
love the selection and the easy to use lay-out too. This site was
purchased by The Library of Virginia to provide more access to more children,
even from the comfort of their home. They took existing picture books and
added sound, animation, music and narration to them to create electronic
picture books geared towards elementary school children. Each story has
games and puzzles designed to promote reading comprehension and there are even
options to hear the stories in English, French and Spanish. There is also a
playlist feature that will allow you to choose books to play in groups, perfect
for story time or home school lessons. I recommend this site as a great
resource and I encourage everyone to check it out.
Now with all of that being
said I am still a fan of getting to hold a book in your hands and turning the
pages to find out where the story is going to go next. So when we moved
to TN and I found out about the partnership between Dolly Parton's Imagination Library and the Governor's Books from Birth Foundation I was super stoked. This program is only for residents of
TN at this time, but the most awesome thing is that it is available to all
children in the state regardless of income, from the time they are born until
their 5th birthday. Not only are the books absolutely FREE of charge they even
mail them directly to your home once a month. What could be better than
that? Kids love getting mail and when that mail is a book that they get
to keep forever you can bet they will start to love books to. ((For those
of you that do not live in TN you can still fill out the form to register and
there is information available to find out how to bring this great program to
anywhere in the U.S.A.))
One last site that I would
like to refer you to is International Children's Library. This site is a great resource for children no matter what language
they speak. The Mission of the ICDL
Foundation is to promote tolerance and respect for diverse cultures by
providing access to the best of children’s literature from around the world. So no matter what language you speak or what
nationality you are, there seems to be something here for everyone.
As I find more ways to access literature for FREE I will post
those sites here as well and until then feel free to send me a message or leave
me a comment if you know of another program or website that I haven’t found yet
and I would be happy to add it to the list.
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