is my very favorite electronic gadget and I am loving it more everyday. My husband bought himself an iPad
for Christmas and says that it's the cat's meow, but I am sticking with my Kindle. I worked as an elementary school librarian for many years and I still enjoy keeping up with the latest trends in children's literature. I have read several children's picture books on the Kindle, but the illustrations are in black & white (no color on the Kindle) and often times too small to see the details. The illustrations are an important part of the story in any good picture book.
Jed and Roy McCoy, A Christmas Story (Cecil and Friends) was offered as a free Kindle book a couple of weeks before Christmas. I would say that this book was written for children from K - 2nd grade. The story was pretty good but several of the black & white illustrations were too small to really see the detail.
I did some research on children's books for the Kindle and found the following blog article by Alan Sitomer ~ Why I chose to publish for the eReading format before the traditional print format for my newest book.
Mr. Sitomer is the author of a newly published book named Cinder-Smella, A Timeless Tale of Stinky Feet. This book is only available in the Kindle version.
I found that the price of the book was only $1.99 so I purchased it on the Amazon site and a few seconds later I was reading it. This book is designed especially for the Kindle so the illustrations are large and the detail is much better than the other children's books that I have read on the Kindle. I have read many "fractured fairy tales", but this is one of the most delightful Cinderella stories that I have ever experienced. This book will have chidlren and grown-ups laughing out loud. I especially like the advice Cinder-Smella's Hairy Fairy Godfather gave her before she went to the ball, "Have faith, Cinder-Smella, In this world you must always have faith. When the time comes, you'll know what to do."
The story has a happy ending in more ways than one. I hope that many more children's picture books will be written especially for the Kindle (and other eReaders). I am sure it is only a matter of time before the Kindle will have the ability to provide color illustrations to all it's electronic publications.
Kids of all ages will want to read books on Mom's and Dad's Kindle. This will be a huge market and a very rewarding market for children's authors and illusrators who are willing to adapt and go with the flow.
I would love to lend Cinder-Smella, A Timeless Tale of Stinky Feet to the first person who posts a comment to this blog. Just tell me you want to read Cinder-Smella and I will email you a copy. If you are not familiar with Amazon's new program for lending Kindle books, please read Lending Kindle Books.
