iBooks is a brilliant app for buying, organising and buying books.

For teachers this choice can make finding great books a chore, meaning we are sticking to books we already have copies of in the classroom or we are missing some of the advantages of having ebooks.

So, are there are advantages of using iBooks for classroom texts?

Storage and ease of use – you can have books stored in one space that would take up valuable room in the school.
Motivation – undoubtedly some children enjoy using the devices.
In app features which aid learning – such as dictionary, thesaurus, adding notes.
Instant purchases – very useful when you need that new topic book or you want to show an author’s work on the whiteboard.
Fonts and size options can make some books more accessible.

There are of course disadvantages, an eBook won’t always replace the physical copy, but there are still many reasons to consider putting budget money aside for the purchase of some key texts in electronic format.

This page from the brilliantly popular ‘Traction Man’ shows how selecting the words, and holding your finger on that word can bring up more options.

What can iBooks do?

Firstly. It’s worth remembering that there are two key different types of books on the book store. Enhanced and normal. Enhanced books have features which look like they would fit well into the app- they may have video clips, or an author’s podcast and even the whole book narrated.

These books, like David Walliam’s excellent Billionaire Boy, add that extra dimension to the text, and help to think specifically of author voice, or appealing to an audience.

The introduction page from Billionaire Boy features a video from the author, David Walliams. The entire story can be read aloud too.

Normal eBooks may not have such interactivity, but they do allow you to select text, then define that word, hear the iPad read it aloud (warning of the pronunciation here!) or even leave notes for the pupils to respond to either in the app or on paper. This means that the children can read longer texts, be prompted with teacher comments and find out the meaning of unknown words. Very useful for the more advanced readers. Most of the books also allow you to search text, change font and size and alter screen brightness. Bookmarks can also be kept, and synced across devices by an option in settings.

How to navigate the store?

The app like any other book store is searchable by title and author, so if you know what you want it is easy to find. There are also ways to stumble across books too, very often some section of children’s books is featured in the front page. At the time if writing it was a lovely section on Children’s Picture Books – some of which had enhanced features. Unfortunately for teachers, ten minutes browsing can turn into an hour before you know it!!

Like the simple, enhanced offering from Tim Burton’s Frankenweenie, a promotional from the movie, some iBooks are free but aimed squarely at entertaining. Worth looking out for.

Begin by thinking what the children will be doing with the book – if it is purely for guided reading perhaps you don’t want longer novels, perhaps short story collections would be better.If you have many specific needs in class, or a large number of children with English as an Additional Language then look for enhanced books where they can hear the language and the expression in the reading. For topic work and non-fiction there are some genuinely beautiful books by DK publishing, and these can really benefit the whole class, not just reading time sessions. Considering what exactly you will be using the book for will save you some time when purchasing.

Part of the 100 Facts.. series 100 World Facts is a great free book to get you started.

Consider the needs of the pupils in the classroom and when they will access the books. Do you want to buy them copies of a book you are reading in class?
Finally, use the ‘related to’ search option within the menu, this may lead to authors and books which you wouldn’t normally consider!

iBook tips:

Remember that the children may not get the chance to read the whole book, it depends on their access to iPads.
Using monitors or pupil digital leaders? Let them browse the book store, or get the school council to choose some.
Integrate it with topic work – there are some brilliant non-fiction books on the store.
Spend some time browsing, and remember you can usually download a free sample.
Enhanced eBooks may be better for reluctant readers