Thing 12 Books, Books, & More Books

Wattpad: This single app could save libraries a ton of money and at the same time provide a rich diversity of reading materials for virtually all readers. It is fantastic. That this app gives writers a chance to share their work makes it a natural opportunity for language arts students who want to connect their reading and writing skills and for others who just want to practice and share their craft. This app has tremendous potential for expanding and improving students' writing and reading skills.

After further exploring this app, I noticed that it has some especially intriguing features: (1) a library and reading lists for organizing and grouping books you're interested in or are currently reading; (2) Discover--features stories, categorized by genre and written by pros or submitted by readers; (3) Create--a place to write and share your own work of art; (4) Newsfeed--latest recommendations on books; and (5) Search engine--to find materials of individual interest.

Overall, this is the kind of app that can save schools money while expanding access to books and integrating reading with writing. It would also be useful for sustained silent reading or other class activities. It is impressive in scope, versatility, and usefulness. Four stars.

Free Books: (Since I liked Wattpad so much, I had to keep going by exploring Free Books.) Much of what has been said about Wattpad applies to Free Books. It provides greater access to books, often to the more serious books studied in high school or college or simply read by those of use who especially enjoy the classics.

Noted features: It has a library similar to Wattpad designed to store downloaded books. On the homepage there is a sliding table of genres and authors of classic literature listed in alphabetical order--a useful tool. It also identifies literature by title, author, popular, and rating. Just for the fun of it, I tried F. Scott Fitzgerald and found a short biography about him along with some of his famous quotes. Four books were available: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, The Beautiful and the Damned, Tales of the Jazz Age, and Flappers and Philosophers. Conspicuous by its absence was The Great Gatsby. I then clicked on The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, found a quick blurb about the story and ratings by other readers. Moving from that to actually navigating through the story was quite easy and enjoyable. Its layout and tools were reminiscent of OverDrive--another e-reader (see Thing 11) that works impressively.

YALSA's Teen Book Finder: Having access to catalogs of books is one thing; having a tool that helps direct students to related books is a complementary tool worth having. So that is what I was looking for when I downloaded this app. The app opens with "Today's Hot Picks," just to get the blood flowing a bit. The search tool offers several ways to find books and related books--title, author, genre, year, and booklist. I found the booklist feature most useful in that one of its choices is "Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Adult Readers," often a group that has little experience in both reading and finding books that might motivate them to be less reluctant. Interestingly, if you want a book listed, the app will show a map of nearby libraries that have it. And finally, it has a "My Favorites" list that helps you organize books for reference or, possibly, for sharing with the reluctant readers. A nice app. I could see myself walking around in the middle of a group of students using the app to help them find books targeted to their interests.

Not an app but a good resource for finding that next good read: Check it out.