Great Opportunity for Title I Schools and Educators from First Book

[Anonymous]

http://openebooks.net/faq.html

A whole host of publishers are making e-books available for free to low-income children in Title I schools. "The app will be available to low-income youth who have an educator – either a teacher, program leader, or librarian – signed up with First Book....Any adult who works in a Title I (or Title I eligible) school, or a program or library that serves at least 70% of children from in-need families can sign up with First Book at firstbook.org/openebooks. Once signed up, educators can request access codes for Open eBooks at fbmarketplace.org/openebooks. If you are interested in accessing Open eBooks for your family and are not an educator, librarian or program lead, please direct your child’s educator to this site to request an Open eBooks access code on your child’s behalf."

Publishers include:

Bloomsbury: Providing unlimited access to over 1,000 of its most popular titles.
Candlewick: Providing unlimited access to all relevant children’s and young-adult eBook titles in their catalog.
Cricket Media: Offering full digital access to all of its market-leading magazines for children and young adults, including Ladybug and Cricket.
Hachette: Offering access to a robust catalog of their popular and award-winning titles.
HarperCollins: Providing a vast selection of their award-winning and popular titles.
Lee & Low: Providing unlimited access to over 700 titles from this leading independent publisher of multicultural books.
Macmillan: Providing unlimited access to all of the K-12 age-appropriate titles in their catalog of approximately 2,500 books.
National Geographic: Providing unlimited access to all of their age-appropriate content.
Penguin Random House: Committing to provide an extensive offering of their popular and award-winning books.
Simon & Schuster: Providing access to their entire e-catalog of books for children ages 4-14, comprised of 3,000 titles.

[Anonymous]

So kids would need to have internet access and an electronic device in order to get these books?

[Anonymous]

Yes. Open eBooks is meant to complement the growing number of local school and library programs that provide access to devices and the Internet. Youth can access eBooks through their school or library-loaned devices as well as their family’s devices. More and more families either own or have local access to devices on which eBooks can be read. A recent Pew Internet survey showed that more than half of those earning less than $30,000 per year have a smartphone capable of reading an eBook, and more than a quarter have tablets. Another national survey published earlier this year found that 85 percent of families with young children (6-13 years old) living below the poverty line have access to mobile devices. Still more can access and borrow e-reading devices through their local school and library, a trend that complements this program. For many of these families and students, smartphones and tablets are their primary internet access method, and they often use locations such as public libraries and schools for Wi-Fi access—where they will be able to download the books in this program, as well as check out physical books. Open eBooks can dramatically alter the reading landscape by providing access to books through millions of devices already in the hands of young people and their families.