Keeping Up With My Readers

     I love my children and I am happy that I've instilled a love of reading in them. Maybe it had nothing to do with me. Maybe it is a gene they were born with. Either way, there is one downside. In an effort to avoid hearing the dreaded phrase, "there's nothing to read", I am on a constant search for good books for them.

     We bought the oldest a Kindle last year. It took a while but I think we are finally utilizing it. First, we installed the Kindle app on our Apple devices (it's available for desktops, laptops, and Android, too). With an Amazon Prime membership, kindle users can borrow one digital book a month for free. That is not nearly enough for my readers so we installed the Overdrive app on our devices. Overdrive Media allows access to library e-catalogs allowing you to check out e-books and audio books.
   
     Another way to extend your access to Kindle books is by joining Lendle. Lendle is basically a book sharing club. Did you know that some Kindle books are lendable? To find out if a book you have is lendable, open the kindle book description in Amazon, scroll down to the Product Details section, and then look for the label Lending. It will either say enabled or not enabled. Join Lendle and register all of your lendable books and then you can start searching the database for books you would like to borrow. For more in depth details about how it works, read the Lendle FAQs page. Lendle also sends out a daily newsletter listing a couple of bargain books and several free books.

     My kids definitely are not all electronic. They still love the feel of a book in their hands, and they still beg to go to the library. We stop going to the library for months at a time because: 1. The driving distance; 2. The amount of late fees we rack up is insane; 3. Even with a 10 book each allowance, all library books have been read within 2 days (sometimes the same day). We buy books from library sales, go to book swaps, and gift books. Books really are the kids favorite Christmas and Birthday gifts.  Our bookshelves are full and have to be periodically culled. Usually they are taken to a book swap but occasionally they are given to friends or donated to the library. In order for a book to stay in our permanent collection it must meet one or more of the following criteria:

• Is a classic
• Is educational
• Is a modern "going to be a classic someday"

Some books in our permanent collection are the Michael Vey series, the Artemis Fowl series, Swiss Family Robinson, Hardy Boys, and various school books we've picked up over the last 10 years of homeschooling.

Here are some free kindle books for kids today, March 1, 2013: (please double check the price before purchasing)