How do I get my students novels during this social distancing time? The challenges of distance learning are immense. As teachers dive into many new computer programs and resources that haven’t been tried in the past, frustration builds. One question that repeatedly arises is how do I get novels for distance learning? Students can’t run out to the shops and purchase them. The answer is free eBooks.
Won’t purchasing eBooks be expensive? No, several websites provide completely FREE eBooks. So, take a deep breath and see if these sites work for you.
Websites with Free eBooks
#1 – Borrowing Books through Open Library
Open Library is precisely what the name implies. You can check out digital books for two weeks. The website’s goal is to get a copy of every book that was ever published. This means their library is huge. At present, 1.7 million titles are available for checkout.
To check out books, you must get a library card. This means providing a username, password, and email address. Once registered, you log in and begin checking out books.
Open Library also has a section of classic books that you can click on the button and read without going through the checkout process. Check out their Student Library here.
#2 – Project Gutenberg
Project Gutenberg is the place to download and read over 60,000 free ebooks. The books can be read online or downloaded to computers or Kindles. Think older classics. Gutenberg’s collection includes only books for which the U.S. copyright has expired. This means the books were published before 1924.
Check out Project Gutenberg for the classics such as these.
- Black Beauty + Audio
- The Wonderful Wizard of Oz + Audio
- Peter Pan + Audio
- The Secret Garden + Audio
- Alice in Wonderland + Audio
#3 – ESL English Bits
I considered the ESL-Bits website a goldmine when I found it several years ago. At that time, Bridge to Terabithia and A Wrinkle in Time were both available. Now the number of offered novels has grown.
BITS is a site full of eBooks and audiobooks to help English Language Learners. Full novels are provided for classics, novellas, short stories, and popular novels. For each text, audios at two speeds read the stories. Students can follow along while the recording reads the book making it perfect for struggling readers.
Books are divided into collections based on difficulty levels. I recommend checking out the Ambitious Learners section for upper elementary. The area contains a mix of books, from Leo Tolstoy’s War and Peace to Audrey Niffenegger’s The Time Traveler’s Wife, to the titles linked below. You will most likely want to give students links to specific novels you wish them to read. Here are a few of my favorites:
#4 – Free Amazon Kindle Books and Free Booksy
Amazon offers many free eBooks. Check out their ‘Top 100 Free’ section.
FreeBooksy is a website that helps readers find books. It contains a section on Free Children’s eBooks. Most links go to Amazon, but you’ll also find links to Nook, Kobo, Apple, and Google. They have an email signup if you want free books delivered to your inbox.
#5 Bookshare
Do you have students with dyslexia, learning disabilities, visual impairments, physical disabilities, or other reading barriers? Check out Bookshare. Students who qualify can read as many books as they wish from a library of over 800,000 titles.
Special ed teachers should check out how to sign up qualifying students for a free membership. Check out Bookshare here.
#6 Mrs. P’s Magic Library
Kathy Kinney, the actress who played Mimi Bobeck on The Drew Carey Show, has a new role. She plays Mrs. P in the Magic Library. Mrs. P reads classic children’s stories. You’ll find Aladdin, The Brave Little Tailor, and others.
#7 International Children’s Digital Library
#8 Storyline Online
If you are looking for stories for K-4, you’ll want to visit Storyline. This site streams videos of actors reading popular picture books.
Check out Storyline here.
#10 Full English Books Online
I discovered this website after the post was written, but it was such a great find that I wanted to include it here. This site has over 6,000 books. I searched for a few of my favorites. Here are links:
- Hatchet by Gary Paulsen
- Holes by Louis Sachar
- Wonder by R. J. Palacio
- Number the Stars by Lois Lowry
- The Giver by Lois Lowry
- Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls
- Because of Winn-Dixie by Kate DiCamillo
- The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate
- The City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau
- Stone Fox by John Reynolds Gardiner
Enjoy!
2 comments
Thank you for this resource. I have used Project Gutenberg, but a few I haven’t heard of before. Unfortunately, I couldn’t click on thte links it just gave me errors. Thank you most especially during this time with Covid-19 and distance learning.
Author
Hi Christina,
I doubled checked the links on my end. They all seem to be working properly. You might want to try again on a different device.