If you or your student haven’t tried audiobooks or e-books, summer is a great time.
You can get a public library card for free, and have access to thousands of e-books, audiobooks, comics and graphic novels, and movies and magazines from the convenience of your desktop or digital device. Many libraries may even have free 1:1 tutoring and language lab for foreign or English Language Learners.
Some schools also have institutional subscriptions for online book services that families can use for free. Contact your teacher or tech support at school to see what additional goodies you may qualify for before school dismisses for the summer. Remember, too, that students with dyslexia or other print disability qualify for free e-books from Bookshare.
First, I want to sing praises of Libby and its audiobook collection.
Libby is a wonderful and easy-to-use app.
The only drawback is that popular books can sometimes have long waitlists – and if you have a slow reader, then the borrowing times may be short.
The Sora app is the e-book and audiobook app for public schools. Sora uses Overdrive and launched a summer reading program called Sora Sweet Reads for the US and Canada which will have popular juvenile and young adult e-books available from May 15 through August 28. These books will always be available for students who want to read / listen.
Some people will be able to access Sora titles through their local library. Books may also be available in other languages.
For comic book and graphic novel lovers, if your selection from Libby isn’t enough, check out Hoopla which also runs through your public library.
As explained below, Hoopla also has an action mode so that you can see single panels at a time and not have to squint at panels that are too tiny on a phone.
Hoopla offers popular audiobooks, music, ebooks, and TV.
Also, if you haven’t tried Audible audiobooks before, there is a 30-day free trial and Prime members get 2 free book credits.
Check out their collection of audiobooks here:
