From Elizabeth Kennedy,
Your Guide to Children's Books.
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If your child enjoys online children's books or if you are looking for the best in international online literature resources for children aged 3-13, you need to know about the International Children's Digital Library (ICDL). The Library's online children's books include children's books selected and digitized by The Library of Congress, as well as children's books selected by international librarians and new material from publishers and authors. Billed as the "Biggest Online Children's Library," the ICDL was established in late 2002. By early 2007, there were 1,500 free children's books, written in 37 different languages, available online on the ICDL website. According to its Web site,

The mission of the International Children's Digital Library Foundation (ICDL Foundation) is to support the world's children in becoming effective members of the global community - who exhibit tolerance and respect for diverse cultures, languages and ideas -- by making the best in children's literature available online free of charge. The Foundation pursues its vision by building a digital library of outstanding children's books from around the world and supporting communities of children and adults in exploring and using this literature through innovative technology designed in close partnership with children for children.

About The International Children's Digital Library

The Library is being built by The Internet Archive, which is the largest library of the Internet, and the University of Maryland's Human-Computer Interaction Lab, which is a leader in children's interface design. When the ICDL is completed, it will be a comprehensive library of international children's literature that will be available on the Internet worldwide. In addition, through research conducted using the Library, researchers hope to learn more about how children interact with digital books and how they learn using the related computer technology.

According to an International Children's Digital Library media release,

The non-profit ICDL Foundation’s library has evolved into the world's largest digital collection of children's books. . . With a user interface accessible in 13 different languages, the Web site has had over 1 million unique visitors since its founding and today is visited by more than 75,000 unique visitors monthly from 166 countries.

"The ICDL Foundation's goal is to build a collection of books that represents outstanding historical and contemporary children’s books from throughout the world, and make them freely available on the Internet,” said Timothy Browne, ICDL Executive Director. (12/30/06 ICDL press release).

Why Visit the International Children's Digital Library Often?

This would be a good site for you to bookmark and check frequently. Children's books are being added all of the time. The site is well organized and the navigation tools are continually being updated to better serve both children and adults. Its searching and reading tools are already available in thirteen languages: Arabic, Chinese (simplified and traditional), English, French, Filipino/Tagalog, German, Hebrew, Mongolian, Persian/Farsi, Portuguese, Thai, and Spanish. When fully developed, the ICDL will provide a wealth of valuable children's literature for children 3-13 years old.

How Do You Feel About Online Books?

How do you feel about online books? Does your child enjoy online children's books? Share your experiences with online children's literature by posting your comments on the About Children's Books Forum, a bulletin board for those interested in children's books.