1

By Paul Biba

This is from Shelf Awareness:

SylvanDellHeader.gifAs the back-to-school crunch looms, Sylvan Dell Publishing is offering e-book previews and bilingual audio readings to booksellers, teachers, librarians and parents on its website from now through October 31.

The e-book version of Count Down to Fall by Fran Hawk, illustrated by Sherry Nedigh, for instance, teaches readers not only about “four craggy oak leaves” and–in the four corners of the spread–their stages in all four seasons and (with an audible page turn) “three-pointed maple leaves,/ yellow, orange and red,” but also readers can see and hear the text in both English and Spanish. Children can select the language of the text in the center of the screen and the language for audio in the upper right-hand corner, making this a valuable teaching tool for children just beginning to read as well as those learning Spanish or English. Sylvan Dell’s Lee German encourages parents and teachers to “take a test-drive” for themselves. All 45 of the publishers’ titles are offered for this free trial.

Last year, co-founders Lee and Donna German awarded free e-book site licenses to Sylvan Dell books for more than 2,600 elementary and Title I/III schools nationwide through their School Resource Grant Program. The publisher is developing “an online data capture system” so teachers can track students’ performance as well as an iPhone, iPod and iPod touch application to make their e-books available on handheld devices. “We want moms, dads, and grandparents to be able to record a reading of our books and add that audio to the language selection list,” said Lee German. “This is especially important for military families with a parent overseas.”

 
1