Parents' Guide to

Google Books

By Polly Conway, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 11+

Make online libraries, review books, and read the classics.

Website http://www.google.com/books
Google Books Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this website.

Community Reviews

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age 11+

Based on 1 parent review

Charles M.
Charles M. Adult
February 11, 2017
age 11+

Amazing Careers

How did William Shakespeare, Dr Marie Curie, Einstein, and Dr Elizabeth Blackwell, the first qualified female doctor develop their careers? Students can learn how to choose a rewarding career by learning from those who were successful. All of them developed a success psychology and these stories outline in a personal way how they did it. All students and parents can learn how to develop their own success psychology. This book shows you how amazing people did it.

This title has:

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What’s It About?

GOOGLE BOOKS works like the classic search engine, except it only searches books. Enter a title, keyword, or author name into the search box, and the site will give you a series of links, called Snippets, which are short summaries of each title. If the book is out of copyright or the publisher has given permission, you can view the book (Limited Preview), and in some cases you can see the entire text (Full View). If it's in the public domain, you're free to download a PDF. If you find a book you like, click the \"Buy this book\" or \"Borrow this book\" links to see where you can buy or borrow the print book. You can also buy the ebook from the Google Play Store.

Who's compiling this giant online repository? Google's Library Project is working with libraries and publishers to obtain links to all books, even those that are out of print, while still respecting copyright. You also can search some magazine content using the Google Books search tool, and you can save and store favorite books on your My Library page. Within your library, you can write reviews for books and organize them into lists.

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say (1 ):
Kids say (3 ):

This is a rich resource. So many classic books are in the public domain, and Google Books is a fun way to access them all in one place (although the regular library has its merits, too). Kids can read Anne of Green Gables and look at the original 1908 illustrations or look at Homer's Odyssey, all for free. Privacy can be tricky; make sure your kids' libraries are marked private or else anyone can see them. Although it's easy to purchase books through Google Play, Google Books is best used as a resource for free content and as a way to collect and share favorite books with friends.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about reading books online compared to reading printed books. What are the main differences? Which do your kids prefer?

  • Encourage your kids to add their favorite books to a Google Books library -- they'll be proud of the growing list and excited to keep adding titles.

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