Kindle for a child?

Mrs_Imp

I love my purple Kobo. It's been great for reading while feeding No 1 daughter, and best of all, it's purple . I can also borrow library books on it. Personally I wouldn't go with a Kindle as you're then tied in to getting books from Amazon, whereas the alternatives eg Kobo and Nook are not tied in, and are usually cheaper.

earthmother

Whichever brand you go for, there are useful sites, such as BookBub, that 'scrape' all the major sellers for free and discounted books - I subscribe to their daily email and regularly get deals, including well known authors, for the kids as well as myself.

An Amazon search for 'free books' brings up thousands more - if they're in mobi format (not usually DRM protected), then they should be convertible by Calibre for the other e-readers too.

At the moment my lot borrow my Kindle, but we are getting eldest a basic one soon as his high school use them quite regularly in literacy lessons and it's encouraging him to read more. CEX and places such as that are good for second hand, as they will come with some kind of limited warranty, as well as cheap covers etc.

DigForVictory

Hang on! You aren't tied to a supplier necessarily. Gutenberg & a *fleet* of other free ebook sites provide loads of reading matter & calibre software is free and reasonably easy to use to convert to your readers format of choice.
Then there are the torrent sites that don't just do films & TV programmes any more, but an author's bibliography in one swoop. Which is a bit between you & your conscience, but if you borrow a lot from the library you pay royalties that way...

*Louise*

I got the Kindle Fire and my DD (5 at the time) inherited my old basic Kindle. She managed just fine with it, I just downloaded loads of free books and it was easy for her to get used to.

I did learn fast to turn off the wifi though - she went to the shop, typed in her name and bought herself a book because it sounded interesting. Lesson learned for me - luckily it was only a couple of ££.

Tiddlywinks

Imp wrote: »

Many libraries can lend ebooks online. However, because Kindle uses its own format, this doesn't work for Kindles. Mrs Imp has a Kobo and I have a Nook so that we can borrow ebooks from our local library.

This is the only drawback with a Kindle... it isn't compatible with library lending.

I still chose the Kindle (keyboard) though because it seemed more durable in its construction.

Threebabes wrote: »

My dd is using my old kindle keyboard because I bought a kindle fire. The kindle is no good in the light or sun, the glare is awful. Going to buy dd a kindle paperwhite for christmas so I can get my old keyboard kindle back off her :-).

All Kindles EXCEPT the Fire are great in the sun... It is the fact that the Fire is first and foremost a tablet that makes it less usable as an ebook.

Can highly recommend this cover from eBay:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/190528677065?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649

It has lasted 2 years with daily commutes and packing in suitcases etc.

barbarawright

I notice that Argos currently have a Kobo mini for £29.99. Can't really go wrong at that price

bylromarha

Ds (9) and dd(7) have a nook each. Best £30 I ever spent getting those. Both kids avid readers since age 2. Both love books. Both have used their nooks everyday since purchase. Both still pick up real books too.

Loads of free kids books from our library system plus the nook has enabled them to access classics in a way they wouldn't have done if they were in paper form.

As an aside, dh hated the idea of ebook readers...and after stealing ds's nook for a week, bought one of his own! He still loves the feel of paper, but loves the convenience of the nook.

earthmother

barbarawright wrote: »

I notice that Argos currently have a Kobo mini for £29.99. Can't really go wrong at that price

Just in case anyone else is considering this ... I picked one up earlier today - neat little unit, nice to hold, everything is touchscreen and seems pretty responsive (though the keyboard isn't great for my big fingers, but the kids are fine with it). I will say the pc side of the software is significantly slower than Amazon/Kindle, and you have to manually sync to send any purchases to the reader, but once you're past that, it seems a worthwhile purchase.

Don't bother with the case that Argos have bundled with it - it's cheap and nasty, not worth the special £10 price - and is too big for this reader anyway. There doesn't seem to be another option on Argos, but Amazon have them from a fiver.

barbarawright

earthmother wrote: »

Just in case anyone else is considering this ... I picked one up earlier today - neat little unit, nice to hold, everything is touchscreen and seems pretty responsive (though the keyboard isn't great for my big fingers, but the kids are fine with it). I will say the pc side of the software is significantly slower than Amazon/Kindle, and you have to manually sync to send any purchases to the reader, but once you're past that, it seems a worthwhile purchase.

Don't bother with the case that Argos have bundled with it - it's cheap and nasty, not worth the special £10 price - and is too big for this reader anyway. There doesn't seem to be another option on Argos, but Amazon have them from a fiver.

I've just bought one because, while I love my Kindle Fire, the battery life isn't that great unless you *only* read books on it and also I want something pocket sized. Just charging it now so glad to hear a good review of it. I like the idea of having something I can just load up with freebies and take in my pocket when I don't want to have a bag with me.

silvermist05

Please let us know how your daughter gets on with her kindle. I've bought my 9 year old a second hand kobo touch for Christmas.