D-LIT: Publishing With Kids Using Bookemon

Source: If You Give a Tiger a Taco

In the library curriculum every year, the students create original works of fiction in the first and second grades. They write and illustrate stories based on author studies or individual books. While the objectives for publishing the different projects remain the same, how we publish the books has changed. Using Web 2.0 technology such as Bookemon makes creating a digital book a snap, easy to share and digitally permanent. The kids love seeing their work published, especially because it can be read over and over again.

One of our favorite publishing projects is the first grade cooperative book. This past year, they based their stories on the If You Give a… series by Laura Numeroff. They analyzed the books for cause-and-effect situations, and they developed a keen sense of the pattern created by the author to bring each story full circle back to where it began. The two books in this post, If You Give a Tiger a Taco and If You Give a Dalmatian a Donut, mimic that pattern and were published using Bookemon.

Source: If You Give a Dalmatian a Donut

The original books the students wrote and illustrated were published traditionally on paper, using standard word processing software for the text and a scanner for the images. The document was printed, bound and cataloged as part of the permanent collection of the school library. This same document was uploaded directly to the Bookemon website to make the digital books in this post. It’s that simple. In fact, it takes more time to fill out the publishing information and to create a cover design than it actually does to publish the final copy on the web.

Bookemon offers many other features. You can publish directly from scratch with complete functionality for adding images, using templates, and selecting pictures from its clipart files. It also offers the opportunity to upload your own photos, use different page layouts, or select from different themes.

Source: Islamic Calligraphy

Teachers can use it to create their own publications, too. The sample below, called Where Do People Live? Urban, Suburban and Rural Communities, was produced using Bookemon. This book was written and designed to better meet the curriculum needs for the second grade study of communities. The Islamic Calligraphy book celebrates the workshop our students participated in as part of their study of the art of calligraphy during the Islamic Empire in the Middle Ages. This publication features all of the students' names in Arabic.




Best of all, with Bookemon educators can create secure and private environments, called edCenters, for their students to create and share books. This type of account allows teachers to control access only to members, to receive discounts on purchased books, and to add student accounts that provide privacy and oversight of their work.

Check out our other D-LIT posts on design, literacy, information and technology.