Children's books you can read online before you buy
a busy person, not rich, into trying new things, buying for a toddler, Practical, an online shopper, value conscious, daily computer user
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OCT
30
2008
How do you do that online? There are plenty of websites out there that feature children's books, some of them even have previews of the books. But, you can never read them cover to cover and get the real feel of them.
Enter Lookybook.com
Lookybook is the first website of its kind for parents who love to buy books for their children. It has a collection of children's picture books for you to look at and even read from cover to cover. You can actually "turn" the pages of the book right on the website. When you join, you create a brief profile and then you can begin building a virtual "bookshelf" with your favorite children's books. Each book can be rated individually using a 5-heart rating. You can browse other member's bookshelves and rate them as well. You can also share each book on Facebook, del.icio.us, StumbleUpon and Digg. Another feature you can use is to "embed" the book onto another website with an html code. And finally, of course, you can buy the book. This website is not a vendor, when you choose to buy a book, it redirects you to the book on Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble or Booksense.com.
What I Love About Lookybook
I love children's books! Not only do I love buying them and reading them to my children, I am an aspiring children's book illustrator, so many of the books provide me with inspiration. It's great to have access to this virtual library and be able to test the book out for myself and even read it to my daughter to see if she likes it herself before I go out and get it.
I love being able to build a "wishlist" so to speak, of the books I hope to buy my children by adding them to my virtual bookshelf.
I was also pleased to find that they are willing to accept submissions from children's book illustrators and authors. I may be able to utilize that someday!
What I Think Lookybook Could Use
When I first tried the site out, I did a test search of some of the more popular books I could think of off the top of my head. None of them showed up. While exploring the site, I read their "About" section and learned the following:
"Lookybook's goal is to post current and past picture books that are worth looking at, but it will take time to build our collection. We are increasing our collection by the minute and constantly in search of new titles to post. Be patient as we gather new titles and visit frequently as we promise to always have something new for you to look at."
That was the explanation I was looking for, so it satisfied me.
The other feature I wish they would add, is the ability to make more than one bookshelf. Pehaps I wanted to separate my books by subject or age-range. Some of the books I read to my 1-year-old are of no interested to my 3-year-old. I always read them a book each at bedtime (or I'll be in there all night). They usually choose the books and I find that my youngest always brings me the colorful and smaller board books while my oldest brings me the more wordy ones. I know one day that won't matter, but I do like the idea of being able to have separate bookshelves, perhaps I'll want to buy them each individual books besides the ones they share.
Other than those two features, I'm quite satisfied with Lookybook.com. I'm currently still browsing the books and building my bookshelf. It is fun, but time consuming, as I do feel the need to read them before adding them. I'd love to wile my hours away on the site, but that's kind of hard to do with two little ones and so much to get done in the home! That's my own personal project however, not a problem with the site.
Lookybook is recommended by mhew
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