STAFF REPORT — Trying to pinch pennies in this day and age? Trying to find reading material for your new-to-homeschooling kids, but local libraries are closed? Guess what? There are plentiful FREE (and legal) e-books out there!
(Note: Beware of searching the internet for “free e-books” because there are a lot of scam and pirate sites out there. They can infect your computer with malware, and they are depriving authors of income.)
One great site is Project Gutenberg. They digitize books in the public domain (meaning their copyrights have expired) and post them. There are lots of iconic classics available, as well as many lesser-known works. You can also volunteer to help digitize ebooks. https://www.gutenberg.org/
Another site is Standard Ebooks. They also produce public-domain e-books: https://standardebooks.org/
If you have a Kindle device, or a tablet or phone with the Kindle app, you can also access the countless free e-books available there every day. (Note: Check the content of free e-books you download from there before you allow your children to read them.) Click on the tab for FREE books on that landing page: Click Here
Smashwords is another e-book vendor where authors offer free e-books: http://www.smashwords.com
BookBub is a newsletter service that sends out a daily e-mail listing specials for discounted and free e-books. When you sign up, you select which genres you’re interested in. You can also leave reviews for books and follow authors there (and it’s far less toxic than Goodreads): https://www.bookbub.com/
You can also check e-book vendors like Googleplay, Apple, Barnes & Noble, and Kobo for free books.
Happy reading!
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