Audio Book and E-Book Resources
Click on the images to open the resources.
Blio - Free E-ReaderBlio.com offers a free e-reader that allows you to interact with a book as a true digital text. The program features the ability to read the book to you while highlighting each word being read, the ability to zoom in and out, the ability to jump to the next logical reading spot, and the ability to interact with content inside each text. The company boasts that Blio allows a reader to truly interact with a digital text, and use the full capacity of the computer to enhance the reading experience. This tool would be very beneficial to students who have a hard time following where they are reading, students who are ELL, students who have visual impairments, and students who have trouble comprehending text. This tool is very new, and VERY powerful! |
EReader.com - E-Books DatabaseEReader.com is a database of books that have been converted to a digital format. These texts work with tons of e-reader applications that can work on a PC, MAC, or mobile device. E-books are a great way to get students who struggle with literacy to engage in a text. E-books are easy to manipulate, and can even be read to your students by many of the reader programs. This site does charge for it's books, but it offers a wide variety of titles that make the expense worth it to support students with literacy disabilities. |
Audible - Audio Book DatabaseWhile I opened up the site telling you that I was going to list all "free" resources, I have to bend that rule for this one. Audible.com is a database of audiobooks created by Amazon.com. The selection offered by Audible is vast. The down side is that there is a membership fee to download their books for use. If you are looking for a specific text that is already converted to MP3 format, this would be the site to look at. Audiobooks in general are great for all students who need support in comprehension, language acquisition, and fluency. These books are also a great tool to allow students with visual impairments the opportunity to "read" a variety of texts. |
BookShare.org - Audio booksBookshare offers access to over 90,000 audiobooks for use with students who have significant learning disabilities that impair their ability to read. This service is provided free to educational institutions, and includes bestsellers and new releases in children's literature. In order to use BookShare, you have to sign up your institution, and go through a verification process. They are very strict about how their content is used, so be sure to read all of the terms of use. By providing these books for free, this service is invaluable to any teacher who has a student who qualifies to use it. As I stated above, audiobooks are great for a large variety of students with learning disabilities, and this site is providing them to you for free! Go check it out! |
Librivox.org - Audio BooksLibrivox.org offers FREE audio book recordings of text's that are in the public domain. The site is dependent on volunteer readers who record chapters of these books for publication to the site. While the selection of books in the public domain may be limited, there are still a wide variety of texts available that can enhance the fluency and reading comprehension skills of your students. |