There are numerous internet resources for electronic text, with more sources being developed all the time.

(For a quick look at the diversity of online text, visit Electronic Book Libraries with over 90 sites listed.)

For Younger Children

Current Books (still in copyright)

Benetech’s BookShare (Over 25,000 titles of books still in copyright, available for a modest subscription rate)

Accessible Book Collection has listed books with reading level, grade level, and word count, and is particularly interested in those with a high interest/low reading level. Annual membership is under $50 for schools certifying that they will use books with students who have a disability.


Books and Historical Documents

Project Gutenberg (6000 free books, mainly classic literature) 

University of Virginia's e-Book Library (1800 free e-books, can browse by subject, including a category for children’s literature)

Alex (free classic literature & philosophy)

Project Bartleby (free reference books including Gray’s Anatomy, poetry, and historical editions)

American Memory (access to historical documents from the Library of Congress)

BookRags (10,000 e-books but annoying flashing animations and poor formatting!)

Microsoft Reader Library (Links to both free and pay-per-book sources of books formatted for easy reading using the free Microsoft Reader software. Look at Juvenile Fiction and Nonfiction)

Fictionwise (Pay per book with a choice of formats: Mobipocket, Palm Reader, Microsoft Reader, & Adobe Reader 6.0. Has a category for children and free books.)

Questia (Subscription access to 50,000 books and 400,000 journal articles with integrated tools for writing up research; creating quotations, citations, and a bibliography; and one click links to a dictionary, thesaurus, or encyclopedia. Designed for college students.)

Book Summaries and Notes

Spark Notes (overview, character list, chapter summaries, study questions, and quizzes on hundreds of books, including MP3 version of the notes)

Pink Monkey (400 books with background, analysis, chapter summaries, and study questions) Note: adjust browser window to eliminate distracting animations.

Adapted Books

The Intersect Digital Library Catalog (free model accessible design of seven books plus historical documents)

NYC Department of Education has adapted books and materials created with Boardmaker picture symbols, Writing with Symbols, and PowerPoint software for K-6.

Balitimore City has posted over 7000 books adapted using Picture Communication Symbols (PCS) and BoardMaker for K-6, including suggested questions that connect to a  9-location, 20-location, or 56-location communication topic  board.

Textbooks

Prentice Hall (website for online versions of over 15 textbooks, enhanced with video clips and other supplementary materials, in science, math, literature, social studies, etc., free to book purchasers)

Holt Online Learning (Grades 6-12, online textbooks and supplementary materials, free to book purchasers)

Glencoe Online (Grades 6-12, online textbooks and supplementary materials, free to book purchasers) http://www.glencoe.com/ Glencoe Literature: The Reader's Choice, Grade 6-12 has text selections online, with questions embedded in the text.

McDougal Littell ClassZone (Grades 6-12, supplementary materials are free. Full and interactive version of textbooks available for purchase.) 

Macmillan/McGrawHill (K-Grade 6 online activities related to textbooks)


Articles, lesson plans, and web quests

Google Scholar, released in a “beta”  version, allows focused searching of scholarly and academic work, including journal articles, books, and book chapters. (When at Google, click on "more" to the far right.)

New York Times Learning Network (Grades 3-12) 

KidsClick (web resources organized by subject, with estimated reading level)

Marco Polo (lesson plans and related electronic text organized by topic, subject, and grade level)

Web Quest (listed by topic and grade level, K-Adult)

ZuZu (online magazine by kids)

National Geographic Kids

Note:  Most E-books come in four main formats; plain text, Adobe Reader, Microsoft Reader, and Palm Reader. The latter three require downloading free software. Adobe Reader 7 will allow highlighting text so that it can be read by the system or a talking utility. Microsoft Reader only works with Windows but comes with free software that will enable these books to talk. For more information, on getting E-text to talk, see the Technology Tips website at http://www.westedrtec.org/techtips.

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