Save It and Save Yourself: Books

I don't know if any comprehensive studies have been done, but I think it's a safe bet to throw this out there as fact: the younger your students, the shorter the lifespan of the books that are anywhere in their vicinity.

Now, believe me, I am the first proponent of that new book smell, though I prefer the musty smell of old books. I can admit that I have listed a books smell as one of the deciding factors of my purchase. But I also don't have to box up my e-books so my cat won't chew on their covers.

This is a wave of the future that many book lovers have had trouble embracing, even as book-like as marketers try to make their product. About a dozen programs have a feature that allows you to press the screen with your finger to turn the page. Hmm. Not a big selling point for me.

In fact, one of the biggest reasons I usually print stuff out even if I have a digital version is so I can make notes on it or dog-ear my place. Well, if you thought you could only do this on real, physical paper, you were wrong!

The site Mobipocket not only offers a wide selection of e-books to download, but it allows you to download them to your smartphone or BlackBerry for free. While it has yet to include an app for iPhone, the much more famous Kindle program from Amazon.com offers this, also for free, while Kindle users are waiting on a BlackBerry version!

What's even better--both versions allow you to download samples before purchasing. For an ESL class, a single sample like this can provide more than enough material for a day's scanning lesson or in-depth reading homework.

But for book addicts, that probably won't be enough. Mobipocket's e-books are about $8 a piece, which is a lot better than most paperbacks, but there are many sites that offer free e-books, some for classic literature now in the public domain, some with new work by aspiring authors, and some with a nice blend of both. The best known of these is The Gutenburg Project, which provides tens of thousands of free books as well as editing services if you want to submit your own.

Other free sites include Feedbooks, Scribd.com, and ManyBooks.

The ability to upload your own material provides a great project opportunity--having students write poems or short stories for publication. They will not only have something to show others for their effort, but you will have reading material for the classes that come later. Short stories may seem like a lot of work for less advanced students, but be sure to look up "nanofiction" if they give you too much grief.

Another great site is DailyLit, which sends a 5 minute excerpt from a book of your choice to your e-mail. This is a great way to help make larger readings more manageable for students or to let students focus on specific chunks for discussion.

Finally, if you have books you just couldn't live without but which may never reach the public domain (the way Congress keeps extending copyright duration), then a last resort option is always to scan them in as pdfs. Many scanners can now do this with the push of a button... well about 300 pushes in all?

Sure, it sounds tedious, but if you have a student teacher, then you can always just say it's the new wave of education. They'll need to get used to it, so why not practice with your library?