The old:
The new:
I was having a discussion the other day with a friend of mine and I was arguing that children’s books would never disappear in their physical form since, after all, children need books to learn to read. Adult booksellers have had their problems moving their wares, what with a declining book buying public and the online world dipping into their profits.
Well, Big Universe may be proving me wrong. Big Universe puts children’s books online – almost 1,000 titles are currently up and ready for reading. In actuality, children’s books online may make even more sense. The continuous improvement of graphic capabilities is perfect for children’s picture books and since most children’s books clock in around 32 pages, readers can actually get through books without a terrible strain on their eyes – the biggest complaint with online reading.
But let me go one step further. What makes Big Universe really great is that they provide Web authoring tools so that children themselves can produce their own eBooks – at last count, about 8,300. Can you believe what an incredible rush it would be for students to create books online for themselves? Can you imagine the skillset that can be developed with students using Big Universe, not to mention standards met?
I use Big Universe on an almost daily basis so I couldn’t agree more. I’m a special education teacher. My students get so much from the support of the pictures and it’s usually very hard to find good age appropriate picture books for fourth graders. This isn’t the case with Big Universe. I’ve also used the book writing component with my students and I credit this site for the huge jump in the quality of writing I saw in my students this year! Asking a child to create a book gets a much better response than asking them to write an essay!
Comment by Bernice Wonderly — June 25, 2009 @ 9:49 am
I think what Big Universe taps into is the graphic novelling of children’s literature. While some may view graphic novels as a dumbing down of literature, I think it’s actually another valuable way to read. You do use cognitive skills, connecting pictures to words, and for students who are more mature but read at a low level, they function much as low level picture books for younger students. More importantly, graphic novels and Big Universe tap into students’ current interests and I’ve seen students throw themselves passionately into their work in these cases. This leads to greater academic achievement.
Comment by D gugel librarian — June 25, 2009 @ 8:31 pm
What a great resource! I think that as all media moves toward digital children will need to learn online literacy in much the same way as they learn to read, i.e. navigating buttons = turning pages, icons and links = recognizing characters or words, etc . This seems a great way to start teaching both.
Comment by Jeff — July 3, 2009 @ 12:35 am
Wow, great find. Thanks for sharing this website. I did not know it existed. My son started writing and I was posting his books on line. I will have to explore the online helps you mention for kids.
Norman
http://childauthor.wordpress.com
Comment by businessmatter — September 22, 2009 @ 7:37 pm
Big Universe provides a unique and very valuable way to encourage the engagement of children with books. It provides a superb compliment to the Kids’ Book Network website which allows children to download, print and manufacture real on-paper, page-turning, publisher-quality books for free. Q. How did Johannes Gutenburg become such a great writer? A. He made his own books.
Comment by Uncle Henry, Ph.D. — October 13, 2009 @ 11:59 pm