At long last: The online Kindle Library is correct and updated

Posted on by Mark Isero

George-peabody-libraryfavicon This Winter Break has been a busy time for the Kindle Classroom Project.

I’m happy to announce that the Kindle Library is now entirely updated and accurate. The books you see in the library are exactly the same books students find on their Kindles. (You can get a sneak preview below or on Iserotope’s Kindle Library page.)

I’m finding out a lot about what librarians call “book discovery.” How do students choose their next book? While most students listen to recommendations from their teachers and students, others like looking at physical book covers and reading the backs of books.

On e-Ink Kindles, this isn’t ideal. The archives list titles of books in alphabetical order. This isn’t enough information for a student to make a decision.

The online Kindle Library over at Goodreads is much more pleasing. There are books and book covers. If you hover over a book, you get a synopsis and even a chance to read a sample.

My hope is that the online Kindle Library will help students branch out and try new genres, support teachers in encouraging students to read widely, and offer donors a sense of what students are reading.

It’s also becoming clear — now that the online Kindle Library is accurate and updated — that 2015 is going to be the year to expand the catalog. I did some aggressive “weeding” (curating) of the library, and it’s time to make the collection more robust. As students make book requests, I’ll purchase those titles, thanks to generous donors.

Take a look below for a randomized sample of the books in the library, and please leave comments and questions below!

One last thing: I’d like to thank Telvin (Fremont, CA), a student at Irvington High School in Fremont, where I worked for three years, for doing the bulk of this project. It took a lot of attention to detail. Now I have to make sure to keep things updated and organized!

And one last thing: Now that you know exactly which books are in the Kindle Library, you may be inspired to donate $10 to add a title to the collection. The quickest way to donate is here. favicon

Click here to browse the entire Kindle Library.

Fallen in Love: A Fallen Novel in Stories
Looking for Alaska
Boy21
Monster
Into Thin Air
The Cocaine Kids: The Inside Story of a Teenage Drug Ring
Autobiography of My Dead Brother
The Grapes of Wrath
The Poisonwood Bible
Along for the Ride
Thirteen Reasons Why
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
A Child Called It: One Child's Courage to Survive
Shadow of the Hegemon
Summer Ball
The Outsiders
Sway: The Irresistible Pull of Irrational Behavior
In the Huddle with... John Elway
Madame Bovary
Beloved



Kindle Classroom Project’s favorite books »

Here is the quickest and easiest way to donate to the Kindle Classroom Project

Posted on by Mark Isero

favicon It doesn’t get faster or easier than this! To donate to the Kindle Classroom Project, just click this big red button.

Donate Now

Feel free to modify the amount and the frequency (one-time, monthly, yearly) of your contribution. Here is how your donation is invested:

– Books ($10). When a student requests a Kindle book, I buy it!
– Kindle chargers ($6). Every week or so, the Kindles need charging.
– Kindle cases ($8). Cases protect the fragile Kindles from getting broken.
– Audiobooks ($15). Professional narration helps some students read.
– New York Times ($20 a month). Nothing better than a good newspaper. This pays for a print and Kindle subscription.

Important: 100% of your donation goes directly to helping students reclaim their love of reading. None of your donation goes to administrative costs. (That’s where my money goes.)

The KCP now serves 227 students in San Francisco, Oakland, and Hayward. Make a donation today! favicon

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Posted on by Mark Isero

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New Kindle classroom! Kathleen Large’s students in San Francisco join the KCP!

Posted on by Mark Isero

Kathleen Largefavicon I am very happy to announce that there will be a new classroom joining the Kindle Classroom Project in just over a week.

Kathleen Large — whose beautiful classroom library I featured in September — is an outstanding English teacher at Leadership High School in San Francisco, where I taught for 12 years.

Kathleen runs a robust independent reading program in her classroom. She begins each class with silent reading, knows what each student is reading, makes recommendations, and conferences with students about their books. Kathleen’s students have read many books, given book talks to younger students, and written poignant essays about how reading has affected them. (Her students also read the New York Times!)

Here’s a sneak peek of her classroom library:

Kathleen's Classroom Library 2
Part of Kathleen Large’s classroom library.

It is an honor to partner with Kathleen in this work. She has already pushed me about the best role of Kindles in a reading classroom. The KCP is a reading program, Kathleen reminds me, not a technology program, and the Kindle is best introduced not necessarily at the very beginning of the year, but rather after a reading culture has grown.

That’s why Kathleen launched a “soft start” with 10 of her students before Winter Break. She met with them individually, asked them if they wanted to opt in, explained the requirements of the program, and answered students’ questions. So far, the news is wonderful: Students are texting Kathleen over Break to let her know they love their Kindle and are finishing books.

It will be exciting to learn how the rest of her students react on Jan. 5 when they find out that there are plenty more Kindles to check out!

It’s very clear to me that the quality of the teacher is the most important ingredient to a successful Kindle classroom. When a teacher understands reading instruction and how the KCP can fit into his or her classroom, things flourish, and the power of the KCP comes out.

I can’t wait to tell the story of Miss Large’s Classroom and its participation in the Kindle Classroom Project! favicon

No Kindle? No problem. Become an integral part of the Kindle Classroom Project!

Posted on by Mark Isero

favicon If you don’t have a Kindle to donate, please don’t feel left out. Remember that the Kindle Classroom Project is a reading project, not a technology project!

Here are a few ways to become a sustaining, lasting donor to the Kindle Classroom Project. Choose one and then scroll to the bottom to donate!

For the Book Lover
A Kindle with no books is just an empty electronic device. The power of the Kindle Classroom Project is that students get to request books they want to read. Because of generous donors, I quickly buy these requested books and deliver them directly to the students’ Kindles. It’s like magic. For $10 a month, you can connect one student with a book that may change his or her life. Even better: Each book goes into the Kindle Library, accessible to all 225+ students participating in the program. Make a $10 monthly donation below!

For the News Junkie
I love waking up and retrieving my newspaper from the front steps every morning. Though I love my Kindle, I prefer reading the New York Times in print. It turns out, students in Kathleen Large’s classroom at Leadership High School also love to read the New York Times. They vie for Kathleen’s lone copy, taking turns, following key stories, and getting to know their world better. A print subscription is $15 a month. An e-subscription, which lacks the newsprint but allows the newspaper to be shared among six students, is $20 a month. The other cool thing about the e-subscription is that it gets delivered automatically every morning as students wake up. Make a $15 or $20 monthly donation below!

 Make a Kindle Come to Life
There are two features to Kindles that are inferior to physical books: (1) They are occasionally fragile, (2) They need charging every week or so. The problem is, Amazon no longer includes power adapters with new Kindles. That means that generous donors often send me their Kindles without plugs. To bridge the power adapter gap, I buy chargers at $6 each. Once a Kindle has its power cord and adapter, it’s ready to go to a student. Make a $6 monthly donation below!

For the Storyteller
For some students, silent reading is not easy. The page just has too many words, and all the text is overwhelming. The magic of a story is unlocked only when someone is telling it out loud. Several Kindle models (Kindle 2, Kindle 3, Kindle Touch, Kindle Fire) come equipped with a text-to-speech feature, but the voice is robotic. Though I’ve gotten used to it, most students prefer a real human. A relatively new feature at Amazon is called “immersion reading,” where students can follow along reading a book while a professional narrator reads out loud. An Audible subscription is $15 a month. This will ensure at least one audiobook per month. (It could be more than 1 book: Sometimes you can add professional narration for cheaper when you buy the e-book at the same time.) Make a $15 monthly donation below! (And thanks to Susan, my new friend on Twitter, for helping me with this!)

How to Donate
The easiest way is through PayPal. Click on the Donate button below. (Sorry for all the blank space.)




(Be sure to click on “Make This Recurring (Monthly)” — here’s a screenshot. Also, once you’re into PayPal, there is a Comments and Questions link. Click that so you can let me know how you’d like me to spend your donation!)

Screenshot 2014-12-26 18.36.04

You see? You don’t need to donate a Kindle to become a sustaining donor to the Kindle Classroom Project. There are many options. I can’t wait to see who is ready to make the plunge! favicon