Nowadays there are so many wonderful places to find free reading material on the Internet. Here are just a few…
Public domain sources
Every year new publications enter public domain. That means their intellectual property rights have expired or are not applicable any longer.
1) Complete Library of Children’s Books online: Rosetta project
http://www.childrensbooksonline.org/library-complete_index.htm
The Rosetta Project is a global collaboration of language specialists and native speakers working to build a publicly accessible digital library of human languages.
2) Project Gutenberg
Project Gutenberg offers over 46,000 free ebooks: choose among free epub books, free kindle books, download them or read them online.
3) The International Children’s Digital Library
http://en.childrenslibrary.org/
“The mission of the International Children’s Digital Library Foundation (ICDL Foundation) 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. The Foundation pursues its vision by building a digital library of outstanding children’s books from around the world and supporting communities of children and adults in exploring and using this literature through innovative technology designed in close partnership with children for children. The ICDL Foundation is a non-profit corporation.” –The ICDL Foundation
4) 7 Places to Find Children’s Books in the Public Domain
http://diyhomeschooler.com/7-places-to-find-childrens-books-in-the-public-domain/
This post outlines seven places to find free books for students to read.
- Baldwin Online Children’s Literature Project
- 19th Century Schoolbooks
- An Old-Fashioned Education
- Baldwin Library of Historical Children’s Literature
- Timeless Truths Free Online Library
- Classic Reader Young Readers Collection
- Complete Library of Children’s Books Online
5) 25 sources of free public domain books
http://ebookfriendly.com/free-public-domain-books-sources/
e-book friendly.com has collected links for 25 sites that offer free public domain ebooks.
Creative Commons sources
Many books are placed online under a Creative Commons License. That means the original creators allow the books to be read and used but require acknowledgement of the original author or publisher as well.
1) The African Storybook Project http://www.africanstorybook.org/
The African Storybook Project (ASP) is a wonderful project that is currently creating and encouraging the use of a multilingual, digital library of stories for the first few years of reading (Grades 1-3)
2) Pratham Books http://www.prathambooks.org/
Take a look at their free resources
