Our first graders created their own eBook for the iBook. I have had many request to share the Butterfly ePub file with other teachers, so they could use it as an example for their own classes.

Leave our first graders a comment, tell them where in the world (geographically) you are reading their book. Maybe you can also share any other facts or stories about Monarch butterflies to help them continue learning.

If you are reading this post on your iPad or iPhone, simple click on the ePub link, and choose to open in “iBook”. Otherwise, if you are on your computer, download the ePub link and drag it into your iTunes library before you sync your device to it.

I also created a FlipSnack  Issuu book to be placed on the classroom blog, for parents and relatives of the students, who do not have an eReader, to view the file.

FlipSnack only showed the first 15 pages of the book, so I switches to Issuu.

It was a little tedious to be able to create the pdf file from the ePub file. I wish that FlipSnack Issuu would allow ePub files to directly be uploaded to their service.

1. take a screenshot of each page of the book.
2. export the images
3. crop the image (so the time and battery life of iPad was not visible)
4. import each image into separate PowerPoint slide
5. export the ppt to a PDF
6. upload PDF to FlipSnack Issuu
7. grab the embed code and embed on classroom blog

The iPads are finally set up and ready to go into the classrooms! It happened to be our first graders who were the first ones to get their hands on them!

A few days ago, I tested and reviewed a great new app: Book Creator. I felt it was a great opportunity for our first graders, who had just finished a unit on butterflies, to create a book about the different stages of a butterfly and their learning reflection as a culminating activity.

Students wrote a story, as a class, about the different stages of the butterfly. We shared their words with our Art teacher who would be working with the students to create the illustrations for the book.

The first time, I brought the iPads into the class, we spent time talking about the care and handle of the devices.

When picking the iPad up from the teacher we reminding them to

• carry the iPad with two hands to their desk
• set them down as quietly as possible
• don’t hold the iPad from the SmartCover
• don’t walk around the classroom with an iPad in your hand
• no pulling, showing or tugging on someone else’s iPad

It was important to also introduce “iPad” vocabulary to our first graders, so we would all be able to use a common language when instructing or asking questions. We introduced this first time the following lingo:

• Home button
• screen
• swiping
• sliding
• tap
• apps
• icons
• pinch in/ pinch out
• front camera
• back camera

The introduction was done with the whole class. We then split into groups. These groups rotated in and out of the classroom to go to Art to start working on their watercolor illustrations. The rest stayed with us in the classroom to become familiar with the iPad.

We projected the iPad to the screen at the front of the room to show them the two apps we would be “playing” with that day: iBooks,  Doodle Buddy.

As we showed them one of the student created eBook , as an example,  it was the perfect opportunity to examine some of the similarities (author, illustrator, text, images) and differences (spine, turning pages vs. swiping pages) between a traditional printed book and an eBook.

Each student then was free to read the eBooks we had pre-loaded on the iPad, and then move on to Doodle Buddy. They discovered quickly the Tic-Tac-Toe and Maze backgrounds as well as the stickers with attached sounds. All in all it was a great way for students to get comfortable with touching, swiping, sliding, drawing and overall handling of the iPad.

By the second encounter, students were ready to learn to use the built-in camera app of the iPad2. We had the entire class together for this session. We showed them the location of each little camera on he front and back of the device and helped them locate the camera app. There were lots of giggles when they learned how to switch between the front and back facing camera. They then could practice taking their own picture. Not an easy task, when keeping in mind to LOOK at the camera lens, instead of the button to shoot the picture.

We showed them WHERE to find the pictures that they took (Photo Album) and how to swipe through the images.

Since this encounter involved:

• the entire class together
• six year olds having to pick up the device off the table and holding on to the iPad with one hand only, so they could use their other hand to snap the picture
• silliness when shooting and viewing their own image
• eagerness to share and show it off to their classmates

…it was a little unnerving, I was worried for the iPad to fall to the ground by accident or get pushed over the edge of the table. We might have to look into investing into protective iPad cases to prevent these worries in the future.

The following time I came to the first classroom, it was time to introduce them to the Book Creator app. This time the iPads were part of a center that students rotated through.

We reviewed how to find and open an app. I then showed them how to insert the image that they took of themselves the previous day. They then practiced resizing and moving the image.

During journal time, first graders had written a short reflection about what they had learned about butterflies during their unit of study. They also included a sentence how they felt about it.  They brought their (paper) journal to the table and learned how to bring up the iPad keyboard and to type their text.

A hush fell over the center as all the students were busy :

• sounding words out
• finding the letters on the keyboard
• inserting spaces
• learning that the cursor will automatically advance to the next line, if they ran out of space
• being amazed that the iPad will capitalize the first word after a period automatically, etc.

I kept a student as a “helper” from a previous center rotation when a new student rotated into the center in order to help me with pointing out the insert image or text icons or location of the space bar or delete button.

I took a screenshot of a finished page in order to be able to email it to myself. I will crop the screenshot to then be able to insert that image into the final class butterfly book.

Looking back at these three “First Encounters with the iPad” sessions with our first graders, I am excited and thrilled. I can “feel” the potential, the engagement and motivation of the students. I can see how the devices will become a tool to bring instant information, growing collaboration, and creativity to the classroom.

Alan November’s powerful words on the motivating and empowering factor of “Leaving a Legacy“, in regards  to student learning, are ringing in my ears. We will be sharing the iPads among ALL of our students (K-8). I can  see how we can develop a cross grade level and cross subject area support center, media center, and library FOR and BY our students. My hope is that students will take ownership of these iPads to contribute their best work, knowing that they will be sharing it with the rest of the school.

The work students are doing with their “Butterfly Book”, will not only be seen by their current teacher and their parents, but will be part of research and background information for upcoming students in years to come.

Let’s create a culture of “valuing and celebrating learning” and sharing among ALL of the students at the school. (I am imagining 8th graders walking up to a 1st grader and talking to them about  butterfly information.)

I was thrilled last school year when our First Graders created their own Read Along Audiobook for the iPad. My regret was that while it was created TO BE READ on the iPad, it was not CREATED on the iPad. I used a wordprocessor, then converted it with an online converter to then be able to import the ePub file to my iPad. Not a “fluent” solution.

A few days ago, I ran across Dan Amos on Twitter,  announcing his soon to be released app called Book Creator  (Released on September 15, 2011). When I contacted him to find out the possible educational uses of the app, he was so kind to extend a promo code for me to give a test run.

The app is super intuitive! I was working on a book for my 7 year old niece (who lives in Brazil) in no time. It took me about 30 minutes to put together a book for her, publish in iBooks and email the ePub file to my brother…to open it up on his iPad…. for my niece to read it.

The book cover and project file  in the Book Creator app (image above)

The book ready to be read on the iBooks shelf. (image above)

The interface is uncluttered and simple. The most important buttons in the upper right toolbar are for  images, text, formatting and exporting.

I easily imported images, that were in my iPad Photo Album. Images that were not originally on the device, were saved quickly from Facebook, a website or an email attachment.

The text was a snap to insert and to format. My niece has taught herself how to read in Spanish (her parents speak Spanish to her), while the official language at her school is Portuguese. She is also starting to learn German. The color coded boxes contain the text in Spanish and German for her.

I used Wikipedia to save the images of the map and flag into my photo album. I received rave reviews from my niece about the book. She absolutely loved it. We are currently writing a book together about her newest favorite music group :ABBA

This week another opportunity presented itself to test and use the app with students at school. Our school is hosting two children from Germany this school year. The sister is in first grade, the brother in 2nd grade. Both arrived a few weeks ago, without being able to speak one word of English. Their teachers, classmates, as well the rest of the school is quite curious and very eager to communicate with them.

The two siblings, six and seven years old, had never seen or touched an iPad before. They were immediately interested and eager to create a book. They came up with the title “Our School in Florida”. We talked about what kind of images they wanted in their book, then walked around to shoot them with the iPad. I showed them how to tap the image icon to insert their images onto a page and then resize them.

They dictated, in German, their comments for each image to me. I added a second textbox with the English translation for them.

Once completed, the book was sent to iBooks, ready to be synced with our classroom set of iPads and for the rest of their teachers and classmates to read. Both children were very excited and proud of their work. I was also able to see how many words in English they had already learned as they were describing the images to me and “helped” with the translation.

Book Creator  is an app that “finally” allows to anyone to create a book by staying completely within the iPad environment. It is an app that takes the concept of transformative teaching and learning to heart. I can envision many more uses for teachers and students.

• Students creating their own textbooks, collaborating as each student contributes a chapter/topic/theme. The iBook shelf hosts and organized the library of all self-created books.
• Students publish an essay or poetry anthology of their work.
• The Official Scribe could pull information together from curriculum reviewer and researcher  (from the roles outlined by the Digital Learning Farm) at the end of a chapter or unit to create an iBook and share with the rest of the class.
• Older students can create books with topics of interest for the younger students.
• Connect with the Art teacher to have students create the accompanying illustrations for any book (First graders are going to be creating a book about the life cycle of the butterfly. They will illustrate the illustration during Art)

Features I would like to see the app develop:

• Allowing copy/paste feature for text
• Other language support (When I showed the app to our Hebrew teachers, they were excited and immediately wanted to know if the Hebrew alphabet was supported, including the right to left writing)
• Ability to record audio into the book (Dan Amos already let me know that this feature is in the works for the next upgrade)
• Ability to record or embed video into the book.
• Collaboration possible between several (classroom set) of iPads. Ability to export and then insert pages created on another iPad, so students can create their own chapters or part of a larger book.
• Ability to export book to an online space to then get an embed code, so book can be embedded on a classroom blog. Parents who do not have an eBook reader are able to view the book as well. Similar to Mixbook.

The app gets two thumbs up from me. I also placed Book Creator  on the highest level of my iPad’s Bloom’s Taxonomy. It opens up the possibility of amplifying writing, reading and sharing and “leaving a legacy” wth meaningful work. The app is a great example of increased fluency on the iPad.

I already have talked with several teachers on different grade levels to collaborate in getting the iPads with the app in students’ hands and see what they will create.  Stay tuned…

Take a look at the video from the developer to learn more about its features.

This post is the continuation of My World of Reading… Part I.

Two months have passed since this post, I am continuing to read more and more.. almost exclusively in digital form now… books… RSS reader… via apps… on Twitter…  I want to tackle and document the following questions, originally from Ryan Bretag  in his post Reading Digitally: Exploring the World of eBooks.  He is continuing to explore the questions he poses on his own- Evaluating eBooks, ePubs and book apps

Are the habits of reading evolving with the web and digital content?

Reading has taken on the form of a continuum. Looking back on the way it used to be, reading seemed “limited”, with a beginning and an end. You started a book and it came to an end. This was specially hard for me, when I wanted to read books in German while living in Argentina or the USA. I had only a limited amount of books available to me at a time, the ones a visitor had brought with them or the ones I had carried over in a suitcase while I was visiting Germany.  I remember holding myself back to read slower, to savor the pages longer, to make the reading extend for a longer period of time. It was definitely a “finite” experience.

I heard a quote, unfortunately I don’t know the original author (if someone knows the name, please let me know) , that states something to the effect of

A period used to tell us when to stop reading, but hyper-linked writing shows us how to continue…

I no longer run of reading material, in any of my  languages, any more. Via the web or via eBooks, I have an unlimited amount of reading material. The feeling of being able to continue reading at my own pace and according to my interests, as well as connect content that I had never intended to look for or set out to find.

My reading habits have changed and are continuing to change  since I am reading mostly digitally now. I read more, I annotate more, I save, curate and disseminate more. I was/am not the kind of book owner that bends the corners of her physical books, nor writes into them. I am freed from that restrain with my digital reading material. I highlight, bookmark, save quotes and share what I read at my heart’s content.

So in that sense, not only have my reading habits evolved due to  the increased access to reading materials, but also due to the connectedness to further content ad more resources as well as connect to other readers.

What happens to reading when readers have access to their own personalized device?

Personalization is defined as “made for or directed or adjusted to a particular individual“. When something is individualized for ME, it automatically increases my motivation and engagement.

Having my own reading device (iPad), that I don’t share with anyone, allows me to:

• not having to wait or negotiate my turn to use it
• have it available to me anytime and anywhere
• customize it to my needs
• increase the amount of my reading, due to its size, mobility and customizable settings
• set up RSS feeds via apps that customize a constant stream of information that is already filtered for my interests, tastes and needs.

So what happens to reading when all of the points mentioned above fall into place? Reading seems more fluent, less interrupted to me. Reading extends into multiple directions and allows me to connect different strands. FlipBoard is one of my favorite apps to create my own magazine style reading hub.

Since the device (iPad in my case) is personalized and constantly growing, I gain fluency by knowing how to use different apps to expand my reading experience. An app, like Instapaper for example allows me to save articles, posts and websites to be read at a later date. Authorizing  my device to other network platforms, makes it as easy as clicking a button to share and disseminate. My RSS reader app, Mobile RSS, allows me to forward articles via email, disseminate to my network via Twitter and Facebook, and to save, organize and store for later retrieval via Instapaper, Delicious and Evernote.

Using an app that allows for annotations, such as GoodReader for example, changes the dimensions of my reading as well. I can highlight, underline, point too, add typed or handwritten notes, then easily share the annotated version of a document with others.

My reading has not only changed by moving from analog to digital reading, but I am discovering new dimensions as well due to the personalization options on my device.

How about you? Are you being conscious about your changes as a reader? What have you observed?

Screenshot of TED Slide by Raghava KK

This is a short TED talk by Raghava KK, the illustrator of the iPad book POP-IT – Raghava KK Inc. This video is not a commercial about the artist’s iPad book though, but shares a message about the importance of raising our children with PERSPECTIVE.

In his book, children can shake the iPad to change the configuration of a family (gay parents, lesbian parents of heterosexual parents). Raghava KK’s vision is to create books that teach history differently. He wants to create books that talk about historic events, such as Indian Independence. You read the book about the Indian perspective, shake the iPad and you will get Pakistan’s perspective, shake it again and get the British’ perspective.

I love the concept… my wheels are turning how to transfer that to the classroom with students… I know teachers are using multiple perspective storytelling in the Language Arts classroom, such as having students retell a fairy tale from the perspective of the villain (wolf, witch, etc) instead of the hero or Edgar Allan Poe’s Tell-Tale Heart podcast to teach author’s point of view.

How can we transfer this to social studies, science and other subject areas?

Ryan Bretag’s blog posts Reading Digitally: Exploring the World of eBooks sparked the desire in me to continue documenting about my experiences as my reading habits are changing. I want to reflect upon and complete the following sentence:

My World of Reading is…

What does reading mean for me in 2011? How do I read? What media and method do I prefer? Where will I go from here? How do I feel about the comment “I like the smell of books”?

I have reflected by writing periodically about my reading in the past:

• So, What About Books?
• My (and Mother’s) Life As a Reader
• Books I Read Around the World

Ryan Bretag, in the above mentioned blog posts, lists other great questions about reading digitally. He  is focusing in on a conversation that deeply intrigues me, a conversation that is centered

on our mindsets about reading digitally, eBooks, digital texts, and teacher created (ePub) materials. While there is the obvious discussion about potential cost savings and green focus, the core is the notion of learning, literacy, engagement, reading habits, personalized devices, and social media.

In his blog post he asks the following questions.

• Will books become entirely digital?
• What is the difference between reading digitally or in print?
• What do we lose and what do we gain?
• How do we define literacy and what does this mean in the context of an always on, content rich society that is highly social?
• Are the habits of reading evolving with the web and digital content?
• Is there an environmental and fiscal responsibility?
• What are the expectations of future generations?
• What does research tell us about reading digitally? What are the cautions? warnings? gaps?
• Would you exchange your print books and texts for digital pieces if it also provided students an iPad?
• How do we begin the discussion in order to engage in a meaningful discussion that leads to action?
• What is reading?
• What happens when reading becomes social?
• What happens to reading when readers have access to their own personalized device?

Ryan did not stop by answering these questions for himself, but created the following pilot program for members of his instructional team to collaboratively explore their world of reading.

Reading Digitally: Exploring the World of eBooks summer pilot

where educators (teachers, librarians, and administrators) across disciplines and position focus on themselves as readers.[...] Therefore, the purpose of this pilot is to explore the experience of reading digital books as readers and members of a society immersed digitally. Through this exploration as readers, we will come to better discuss the experience of reading digitally and move the discussions into future phases that focus on the perspective of learning and teaching.

So here is my attempt to answer the prompts:

Will books become entirely digital?

I don’t believe that traditional books (printed on paper) will become “extinct” in our lifetime. We have to remember that not every person in the world has electricity, nor Internet connectivity, nor the desire to go digital. While I can see the possibility that ALL the books I will purchase in MY future might be digital, I think that there might be a gradual phase out of printed books as more and more people purchase digital only. I do know that I have moved with my existing, physical books across three continents and do not plan on abandoning any time soon these individual letters that form words,  sentences, paragraphs and are printed on paper and bound together to create meaning and stories. (Can you tell that I have a relationship with books?)

I hear many readers, who have made the jump to e-readers, say that they read non-fiction and books in their professional library as ebooks, but still prefer to read their novels and other fiction books on paper. Initially I started out that way too, but am realizing already that the ability for me to:

• carry all my books in one convenient device
• have immediate access to books in other languages
• be able to organize my library easier and more conveniently (also, don’t have to dust them)
• be able to share books with my mother (who lives in Argentina and has my old Kindle connected to my Amazon account now)
• make it easier on my wrists when reading the otherwise heavy historic novels ( I like to read in bed).

Take a look at the following articles to form your own opinion about printed books becoming extinct:

• Will physical books be gone in five years? – CNN.com
• iPad and books

What is the difference between reading digitally or in print?

Nowadays, I am reading more digitally than in print. Not only because of blog posts, internet sites from different countries, twitter, etc, but because I have digital print more readily available anytime, anywhere. I always carry my iPhone and/or iPad around with me.  I have over 50 books on my Kindle app, ready for me to open, read, highlight, add a note, take a screenshot, share a quote via my social network, etc. I don’t recall ever having brought along more than one paper book in my purse other than a travel-guide or a book when heading out on a long flight. Now I carry an entire library with me. So, those are some logistic reasons why reading digitally is different than reading in print.

But what about other differences?

While I might skim reading an online blog post or through my Twitter feed, I don’t feel like I am skimming more or less an e-book than a paper book. I always have been a fast reader and I am not realizing  if I seem to be reading faster digitally than in print.

I am just reading more, since I have more available to me. I remember starting to get ansy when I was about to finish a book, since I had not another one readily available at home to continue reading. I had to wait until my next trip to town to a bookstore.

I remember the days before Barnes & Noble or Amazon, when

• the “bookstore” (in Germany) was only a few shelves in a department store.
• I had to save all my allowance to be able to buy my next book.
• the only bookstore that carried German books (in Argentina) was two bus rides and about 1 1/2 hours away.
• the bookstore (in Argentina) was not a pleasant place to hang out, no chairs, no coffee shop and unimaginable that you would be allowed to actually start reading the book before you would buy it.

As I am reading, I am using the build-in dictionary regularly on my iPad. Maybe because English is my third language…Maybe native speakers don’t… Doing this on the iPad is something that has become fluent. Looking up a word, does not interrupt my flow of reading. I do not perceive it to slow me down as having to set my physical book aside to pick up another one, the dictionary, and then look up the world to then pick up the original book again to place the word in the context.I don’t remember using a dictionary much before the iPad.

In order for this blog post to not go on forever, I will continue answering Ryan’s prompts in part II of “My World of Reading”. Stay tuned.

What are you noticing as you compare your digital vs. printed reading habits? Have you blogged about it? Documented it? Or would you just like to share here in the comments?

Recently I had created a “Read-Along” book for our first graders to accompany their Magic Tree House podcast and am continuing  to have fun creating e-books for my iPad from Word Documents, pdfs and thematic blog posts from Langwitches. Next year, we will have an iPad cart to use with our students and I am looking forward to brainstorming more ideas and opportunities to allow students to create and organize their own e-books on the iPad.

• What are the advantages/disadvantages of creating our own e-books instead of purchased textbooks?
• What new learning opportunities can creating your e-book bring to your classroom?
• How can we integrate teacher-created e-books, personalized for students?
• Will student created e-books motivate, engage and empower learners?

Let’s put our heads together to think of the opportunities and possibilities. Have you already created and used your own e-books in your classroom. Please share your thoughts and ideas.

Download the Create Your own eBook for your iPad as a pdf

I have had several requests to create another How-To-Guide Flyers:
Create your own E-Book for your iPad
Making Your Own E-book For Your Ipad.

Don’t miss out on a virtual summer book club discussing Angela Maier’s and Amy Sandvold’s book “The Passion-Driven Classroom”.

I already have one quote from the first few chapters that has give me plenty to think about as I reflect on this past school year and wonder what makes the difference between an educator who doesn’t wait to be taught, but instead is willing to learn…

Passion says, “I believe in this. I own this. I think about it even when I’m not on the clock. I know we can do this better than anyone else can.” This sense of ownership becomes a responsibility- the mission to pursue excellent work.

Never have been a member of a face-to-face book club, I am eager to test the waters with the Curriculum21 team and Ning members in a virtual environment. In order to participate actively in the discussion, you will need to become a member of the Curriculum 21 Ning. Since membership is moderated, please register with a your school’s email or other identifiable education account. I hope you will join us.

I was honored when Richard Byrne, from FreeTech4Teachers,  asked me to contribute to his latest project: a collaborative Super Book of Web Tools for Educators. I am fascinated by the production power of teachers who collaboratively are creating work to help other educators. I am fascinated by their willingness to donate time, expertise and share resources.

Here is the list of contributors to The Super Book of Web Tools for Educators:

• George Couros
• Patrick Larkin
• Kelly Tenkely
• Adam Bellow
• Silvia Tolisano
• Steven Anderson
• Cory Plough
• Beth Still
• Larry Ferlazzo
• Lee Kolbert
• Richard Byrne

You will find chapters about:

• An Administrator’s View
• Elementary School Tools
• Middle School Tools
• High School Tools
• ESL/ELL
• Teaching Online
• Connect Via Skype
• Elementary School Blogging
• Alternative Ed Tech
• Social Media for Educators

The Super Book of Web Tools for Educators- A comprehensive introduction to technology in all K-12 classrooms.

There are teachers around the world who want to use technology in their classrooms, but they’re just not sure where to start. That’s why eleven prominent bloggers, teachers, and school administrators got together to create this free book.

Except where noted, all content is the property of the respective authors. you may read, download, print, and distribute this work in its entirety under the following conditions:

• You cannot charge for access to The Super Book of Web Tools for Educators.
• You cannot use The Super Book of Web Tools for Educators as a “free gift” connected to a workshop, training, book, or other services or product for which you are charging a fee.
• Unless granted permission for the author(s) you cannot use excerpts from The Super Book of Web Tools for Educators for inclusion in another electronic or printed book.

Super Book Educators Web Tools

Although I am not officially participating in Melanie Holtsman’s Blogging Challenge, I liked the title of this post. My friend Chrissy Hellyer’s response on her TeachingSagittarian Blog convinced me to write one of the same title and create a list of “My Life As a Reader”. I really enjoyed compiling the following list (in random, not chronological order). I think it was a wonderful reflective exercise about how important reading has/is to me in my life.

As I was compiling this list, I asked my mother in Argentina to also share with me her life as a reader, as I wanted to look at similarities and differences…maybe due to the generation gap…or maybe because I love collaboration…or global connections (I am in the US, my mother is in Argentina)…or because I am so proud of my mom that she is maneuvering her way online and has figured out how to share a document with me on Google Docs… or because we live in a time where  it is simply possible…

1. The first book, “Mein Esel Benjamin”,  I remember was a book about a little girl in Spain finding a donkey and becoming best friends with it.
   
2. My favorite author as a child was Enid Blyton (Chrissy: You and I would have talked for hours about her books via Skype between Germany and New Zealand…if Skype would have been around back then
3. I owned all the Famous Five, Mallory Towers and the Twins of St. Claire (“Fuenf Freunde”, “Dolly” and “Hanni und Nanni” as they were called in German).
4. I was thrilled, when on a layover at the London airport, I found a bookstore. I bought the English version of Enid Blyton books (not available in the US) for my daughters.
5. I spent every last “Deutsche Mark” of my allowance buying books.
6. I remember hanging out for hours at the one wall book display at a local department store in Heidelberg browsing the books. The concept of coffee shops, armchairs and comfortable seating in books stores did not exist yet.
7. My favorite genre is Historical Fiction.
8. I read fluently in German, Spanish and English.
9. I could read and understand what the story is about in French, Italian and Portuguese.
10. I am not a “library” kind of person. I like to own my books to re-read them.
11. I jumped on board with e-readers as soon as the Kindle came out.
12. I LOVE reading on my iPad.
13. I dragged my book collection from Europe to South America and then to North America with me.
14. When I travel home, my suitcases fill up with books until I reach the airline weight limit.
15. One of the last memories I have with my father is going to the bookstore “Hugendubel” in Frankfurt, Germany to browse for books.
16. I read “Outlander” by Diana Gabaldon during the pregnancy of my third child.
17. The first Barnes and Noble bookstore I ever went into was in Rockford, Illinois.
18. I used to read at least 10 (picture) books a day to my children when they were little.
19. My children always (mostly) received books as presents from me on their birthday.
20. Going to Barnes & Noble was a favorite outing for me with my three little girls.
21. I don’t like reading “bad” translations of books.
22. I prefer reading a book in the original language the author wrote it in.
23. “Jauche und Levkojen” is the book that makes me feel close to and reminds me of my grandmother and her life in East Prussia.
24. I am usually disappointed when watching a movie after I read the book.
25. I was reading “Harry Potter” as I was flying back from my father’s funeral.
26. I maintain a “Books I Read Around the World” Google Map to keep track of the book’s location/setting.
27. I created and maintained a book recommendation site for German speaking parents who raised their children abroad: Sprachhexen (German word for Langwitches)
28. I imported and sold German books in the US via the Sprachhexen site and Ebay.
29. I used to at least spend 1 1/2 hours EVERY night reading (30 minutes) to each one of my daughters.
30. I tried to read as much as possible German books to them.
31. I frequently write about book related issues on my blog.
32. I am experimenting with different “note taking”/ visualization techniques when reading a book.
33. I am reflecting on the process of buying, storing and reading books nowadays.
34. I enjoy being able to “carry” around all my e-books in one place.
35. I LOVE my book shelf from Ikea.
36. I do most of my reading online and in digital form.
37. I do like the smell and feel of a book in my hands, but I KNOW that I will get over it as I am enjoying the advantages of e-books.
38. I love to read in bed.
39. I started reading online in 1991. It was a Mommy-to-be support group on the Prodigy Bulletin Board group of “Babies to be born in January 1992.
40. I started reading blogs in 2005.
41. I started reading Twitter in 2007.
42. My first “Geek” book was “The FrontPage Bible”.
43. “The Diary of Anne Frank” was the book that inspired me, like so many other girls, to start writing a journal at age 11. I also give her credit to prepare me for becoming a blogger decades later.
44. I keep an inventory of the books that I read, have read (since 2008) and plan on reading on Shelfari.
45. I only read a manual as a last resort.
46. I can read (not great) old German type.
47. I was able to read and understand Spanish long before I stared speaking it.
48. The first book I read in Spanish was “El pajaro canta hasta morir” (Thornbirds) by Colleen McCullough. The next one was “En el nombre de la Rosa” (In the Name of the Rose) by Umberto Eco
49. I remember that we read, in my last English course in HighSchool, “The Cather in the Rye” by J.D.Salinger. I learned the English word “phony” with this book.
50. The one and only book I ever read in French was called “La Maison des Hirondelle”.
51. I don’t like to read subtitles in movies.
52. One of my favorite books I read as a teenager was “The Source” (Die Quelle) by James Michener.
53. A book that went down in family history for my daughters was “Once upon a Potty”.
54. I loved reading “Bibi Blocksberg” books to my girls.
55. The only comic books I have enjoyed reading were/are “Asterix & Obelix”.
56. As teenagers, I used to read two magazines “Bravo” and “Maedchen” until I moved to Argentina.
57. I have over 500 RSS feed subscriptions in my Reader.
58. I collect travel guide books of the places I have been to and would like to travel to.
59. I have read books to my little niece (who lives in Brazil) via Skype.
60. My favorite authors in the Spanish language are: Mario Benedetti, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Mario Vargas Llosa, and Isabel Allende.
61. Some of my favorite author in the English language are: Noah Gordan and Ursula Hegi.
62. I took many Hispanic literature classes for my undergraduate degree and LOVED reading authors of different Latin American countries and periods in history.

Here are my mother’s notes to “Her Life As a Reader”

Her notes are written in German (my translation follows in parenthesis).

1. Als kleines Kind in Ostpreussen kann ich mich kaum an Buecher erinnern,  die mir vorgelesen wurden.  Vielleicht nur an Geschichten, die mir erzaehlt wurden und Maerchen, wie die der Gebrueder Grimm und Hans Christian Andersen. ( I can barely remember any books that were read to me as a young child in East Prussia. There were only stories told to me, fairy tales from the Brothers Grimm and Hans Christian Anderson.)
2. Nach dem Krieg und nach der Flucht gab es kaum mehr Buecher.   Als ich anfing zu lesen (in der Volksschule) fielen nur alte abgegriffene Buecher von Freunden und Bekannten in meine Haende,  da erinnere ich mich, dass ich immer wieder “Die Deutschen Heldensagen” gelesen habe.   Es gab lange keine Buecher zu kaufen und man hatte auch dafuer kein Geld. In dieser Zeit fiel dann auch der Klassiker  “Heidi” von Johanna Spyri. ( After our flight, after the war, there were not many books around. When I started reading in Elementary School, I only got my hands on old used books from friends. I remember now that I started reading “German Heroic Sagas”. For a long time we could not buy any books, nor did we have the money. During that time I ended up with the classicer “Heidi” by JOhanna Spyri in my hands.)
3. Dann kam die Epoche der Karl-May-Buecher.   Ich glaube, die habe ich zusammen mit meinem Bruder Norbert fast alle gelesen.   Sie haben mir das vermittelt,  was ich mir immer wuenschte,  Reisen und Abenteuer zu erleben. ( Then came the period of reading the books by Karly May. I believe that together with my brother Norbert, we read all of them. They gave me what I always dreamed of, traveling and adventures).
4. In dieser Zeit kamen wohl auch die ersten “Heftchen” heraus:  Kurzgeschichten,  Mickey Mouse von Walt Disney.  Die waren billig und schnell gelesen. (In the same time, the first magazines came out. Short stories, Micky Mouse from Walt Disney. They were cheap and a fast read.)
5. Waerend meiner Schulzeit (Gymnasium)  habe ich mich auf die Schulbuecher konzentriert (ganz besonders Geschichte).   Geographie war auch mein Lieblingsfach und ich habe viele Reiseberichte gelesen,  eines davon war von Sven Hedin, dem Schwedischen Entdecker.  In der Schule habe ich dann auch mit den Klassikern: Goethe, Schiller, Lessing etc. Bekanntschaft gemacht (nicht mit besonderem Interesse in der damaligen Zeit).  Wir mussten immer Gedichte auswendig lernen! (I concentrated on textbooks during my High School years (especially History)/ Geography was also one of my favorite subjects and I read a lot of travelogues. One of them being from Sven Hedi, a Swedish explorer. In schools I read most of the classics: Goethe, Schiller, Lessing, etc., with little interest at that time. We always had to read and learn poems!)
   
6. Mein erstes Buch,  dass mir meine Freundin Karin Eckstein zu meinem 18. Geburtstag geschenkt hat,  hiess:   “Ein Baum waechst in Brooklyn”. (My first book, that my friend Karin Eckstein gave to me on my 18th birthday, was ” A Tree grows in Brooklyn”.)
   
7. Dann haben wir Teenager auch die neuesten “Liebesromane” (Schundliteratur, wie die Erwachsenen es nannten) ausgetauscht.  Ich erinnere mich nicht an einen einzigen Titel! (As Teenagers we exchanged the newest “Love Novels”(Trashy literature, as the adults called them). I can’t remember one title.)
   
8. Waehrend meiner Zeit in England (1959/1960) habe ich kein deutsches Buch gelesen.  Mein erstes Buch in englischer Sprache war: ” Pride and Prejudice “. (During my time in England (1959/1960), I did not read one book in German. My first book in the English language was “Pride and Prejudice”.)
   
9. Weitere deutsche Buecher:  Romane von Johannes Mario Simmel.  Waren die Bestseller in den 70er Jahren.  “Hurra, wir leben noch”  war wohl das Bekannteste. (More German books: Novels by Johnannes Mario Simmel were the bestsellers of the 70s. “Hurrah, we are still alive” is one of the more famous ones.)
10. Romane von Hans Habe:  “Off Limits” und “Wie einst David”  sind zwei, an die ich mich erinnern kann. Diese Romane hatten alle mit der Nachkriegszeit zu tun, die ich ja indirekt auch miterlebt habe. (Two novels, I can still remember by Hans Habe are “Off Limits” and “As once David”. All of these books had to do with the post war times, which I indirectly lived through as well.)
11. Dann kamen historische Rome hinzu, die mit der Vertreibung und Erinnerungen an die verlorengegangene Heimat zu tun hatten:  ” Die Muecke im Bernstein”  und “Jauche und Levkojen” (Then came the historic novels that had to do with the banishment and memories of a lost homeland: “The Mosquito in Amber” and “Jauch and Levkojen”.)
12. Dann gab es eine Zeit, in der ich nur “Krimis” gelesen habe.   Es waren so viele, dass ich auch da mich nicht an die Titel erinnere. (Then there was the time when I only read thrillers. There were so many, that I don’t recall one title.)
13. Die Zeit in der meine beiden Kinder klein waren,  habe ich nicht allzuviele Buecher gelesen.   Es waren wohl nur Informationsbuecher ueber Schwangerschaft/Baby und moderner Erziehung.
    (I did not read many books during the time when both my children were little. There were mostly informational books about pregnancy, babies and modern child rearing.)
14. Nach der Uebersiedlung in meine neue Heimat (Argentinien) haben mich alle meine deutschen Buecher begleitet.   Sie standen in all unseren Wohnungen und Haeusern auf Regalen fuer alle zur Verfuegung.
    (All my German books accompanied me after I moved to my new country (Argentina). They were available in all of our apartments and houses on shelves, available for everyone.)
15. Jetzt gesellten sich natuerlich auch die spanischen Buecher dazu.   Es dauerte eine ganze Weile, ehe ich sie verstehen und lesen konnte.
    (Then books in Spanish were added. It took a while until I could understand and read them.)
16. Das Buch von Garcia Marquez: “Hundert Jahre Einsamkeit”   habe ich in einer Nacht/und dem darauffolgenden Tag verschlungen.
    (I read the book”One Hundred Years of Solitude” by Gabriel Garcia Marquez” in one night and the following day.)
17. Ich muss gestehen,  dass ich mich (heute bin ich 70 Jahre) nicht mehr an alle gelesenen Buecher erinnere.   Wenn ich sie sehe, oder ihren Titel hoere,  dann faellt es mir wieder sofort ein.   War es ein fuer mich ein spannendes und interessantes Buch,  erinnere ich mich auch an die Handlung.   War es dies nicht, ist mein Gedaechtnis blank!
    (I have to admit that today (at 70 years old), I can’t remember all of the books that I read. I remember only when I see or hear of a title. If it was an enthralling and interesting book, I can also remember the plot. My memory is blank if it was not. )
18. Es kommt auch sehr selten vor, dass ich ein Buch 2 oder 3 mal lese.   Dies passiert nur,  wenn ich das gleiche Buch in einer anderen Sprache lesen moechte.
    (I seldom read a book two or three times. It only happens if I want to read the same book but in a different language.)
19. Bei jedem Besuch bei meiner Tochter Silvia in USA stoebere ich mit viel Lust und Interesse in ihrer Bibliotek, um  ihre “Lieblinge” zu lesen.   Ich erinnere mich an die Zeit, in der ich alle Baende von Diana Gabeldon verschlungen habe.  Da sie auch in USA immer Zugang hatte, deutsche Buecher zu bestellen,  haben wir uns beide richtig satt gelesen.
    (I poke with much interest around the library of my daughter Silvia when I visit her in the USA. I remember the time when we devoured the books in the Diana Gabaldon series.)
20. Das Schoenste ist, abend vor dem Schlafen im Bett ein gutes Buch in der Hand zu haben. Auch heute ist es noch eine liebe Angewohnheit vor dem Schlafen zu lesen und ich tue es jeden Abend.
    (The best thing is to hold a good book in your hand before going to bed at night. I have the same custom still today.)
21. Waehrend des Tages,  lese und informiere ich mich mit meinem Laptop, den ich seit 3 Jahren besitze.   Es ist fazinierend, mich in meinen drei Sprachen zu orientieren,  wie ich es gerade brauche.
    (During the day, I read and inform myself on my laptop that I have owned for the past three years. It is fascinating for me to orientate myself in three langauges, depending on my needs.)
22. Trotzdem gehe ich jeden Samstag zum Zeitungstand, um mir mein “Argentinisches Tageblatt” zu besorgen.
    (I nevertheless walk every Saturday to a newspaper stand to buy the “Argentinean Newspaper” in the German language.)