International Children's Digital Library

http://www.icdlbooks.org/

An online library of children’s literature, suitable for 3 - 13 year olds, created by the University of Maryland, in U.S.A.

What is the site about?

It is a huge collection of children’s books, which can be searched in a variety of ways. You can access the library in ten different languages, and read books in forty different languages. The mission of the site is “To support the world's children in becoming effective members of the global community - who exhibit tolerance and respect for diverse cultures, languages and ideas - by making the best in children's literature available online free of charge.”
 

Why was it chosen as site of the week?

It gives children and teachers access to a huge range of books from a variety of different cultures. Some books have book reviews written by children attached. Users choose the “Read Books” option to be presented with the range of selection methods available. These include language, age range of the reader, award winning books. In addition, you can choose fairy tales, true stories, or the length of book you would like to read. The languages books are available in at the moment include English, French, German, Spanish, Filipino, Italian, Russian and Slovenian as well as many more. 

How can it be used as an educational resource?

It expands the range of books children can read in school. By registering for a (Free) Library Account, a user can create a Personal Bookshelf. As well being used by children individually, this option gives class teachers the opportunity to set up a list of books they would like a class to read. This will allow children to begin reading almost immediately, without having to select from the various menus presented.

There are five different ways of reading the books:  standard, plus, comic, spiral and adobe. Essentially this affects the way the book appears on the screen, and how the child navigates from page to page. Once a book has been selected the reading options for that book appear onscreen.

The site also includes a White Ravens section. Books awarded this label have been judged – at the Bologna Children’s Book Fair -  to deserve worldwide attention because of their universal themes and / or their exceptional literary style. Reviews of all of the books with this label are available, with 20 of them available to read online.

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