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I have been in love with books since the moment I learned to read.  My childhood dream was always to someday have my very own home library filled floor-to-ceiling with books. Naturally I expected everyone to share this dream of mine. While both hubby and me are voracious readers, Lil p has been a reluctant one. She loves listening to us read to her , she will also easily browse through picture books and comics. But she has mostly stuck to short books with easy sentences. When we were offered the chance to try out Amazon’s latest Kindle Voyage, I knew I had found a way Lil P would enjoy reading! Here are my points on

Why Kindle is the best thing that happened to us!

Encouraging Literacy with the Amazon Kindle

By far the most effective way to encourage your children to love books and reading is to read aloud to them and we do that a lot. The best advantage of having a kindle is, now, I can turn off the light and still read to her. I love the brightness settings on it. When reading in the dark, the adaptive front light slowly lowers the display’s brightness over time to matches the way the eye responds to darkness.

My most favorite feature of our Kindle however is the Kindle Free Time. FreeTime gives me parental control  – We set reading goals and tracked our progress. This is great as Lil p ‘s  school has a reading program and she loves earning badges.

Lil p would place a book down as soon as she would hit a tough word. Now, using  features like Vocabulary Builder – which stores words that she looks up and allows her to quiz herself later with flash cards – and Word Wise, which provides short and simple definitions for difficult words,  She comes rushing to me excited about a new word that she learnt.

Its Quick, Instant & Cheaper

Do you sometimes hear about a good book from your friends and you can’t wait to read it?  Sitting at home, with a few clicks, I can now have that book delivered to me within thirty seconds. Besides, I realized that most kindle books are often cheaper than their physical counterpart. I almost always download a sample first. Plus there are  thousands of books for free. I was delighted to find classics like Treasure Island and Heidi for free that we are now reading together.

It’s Portable

We travel often and go for long drives almost every month . Then there is that added baggage of Lil p’s books and books that I want to read and hubby wants to read! The Kindle helped me get rid of that. I now buy ebooks before travelling. The e-reader is super light, and I carry it everywhere.

In fact, you don’t need to buy a Kindle, you can read all your kindle books on your mobile / mac / pc using their app for free.

Come to think of it, when the Kindle first came, I turned up my nose.  I love real books.  I want to feel them in my hands while I’m reading and see them on my shelf when I’m done.  To my utter surprise, I absolutely loved reading books on my Kindle! I in fact went on a purchasing spree.

Here’s what on our Reading list right now

• Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead
• Lucky Bitch: A Guide for Exceptional Women to Create Outrageous Success
• Mr. Popper’s Penguins
• Learn with Play: 150+ Activities for Year-round Fun & Learning

 
Purchase your kindle –

Despite the addictive side, the Kindle is a great device that I’m thrilled to own. We are all reading and learning more, thanks to it.
Edited to add a few more points – On our Facebook page, there were some important questions asked. I’l try to answer some of the concerns here

How good is it for the kids eyes? I have been contemplating of getting one for my 7 year old …
The Kindle Voyage has E Ink screens, that look and read just like real paper. Kindle e-readers’ matte screens reflect light like ordinary paper and use no backlighting, so you can read as easily in bright sunlight as in your living room. Unlike LCD screens, E Ink screens have no glare. So they are pretty safe for young kids to read.

Are there good options for kids books on kindle as well?
Almost all Children’s books are available as a kindle version.
Here’s a link to some of the Free Kindle books on Amazon.in
Here’s a link to some of the Free Kindle books on Amazon.com

Not Another digital device! I would never give my child a kindle and deprive him of the look & feel of a physical book
We are not debating the benefits of a physical book over a kindle! .. Just that Kindle has its place in my heart just like a good physical book. No one is asking one to be substituted by another. Kindle is not like other tabs out there. There are no distractions or games. The books never get soiled or torn. So for the likes of us who are running out of shelf space faster than we can read them all, kindle makes perfect sense!

Need your views – Picture books will form a majority of our downloads (whenever we buy it). When I see the form factor (6″), cannot visualise how good will the display for picture books be. Does the device support color pictures?
The pictures are nice but black & white. I have a lot of Art & Craft books downloaded for 3$ 4$ while the physical copy costs 14$ and available in US only. The pics are neat & crisp. The image of my daughter reading shows a picture book. However, the Kindle is best suited for books with lot of text. Kindle Fire shows color, but doesn’t have eInk technology. Both the Paper white & Voyage has it.

I know what you liked, but what did you not like about the kindle?
Hmmm.. For one, we can’t share or borrow books. US has a Kindle Free Time Unlimited subscription that’s not available to us. I hope they set it up here too.

I don’t have a kindle yet, but I want to check out the ebooks. Is there a way?
Yes!! Use their app. Though i’d recommend you to buy a kindle ereader, their Free app can be installed on your mobile, PC or ipads.

Read more details about the
Kindle Voyage Wifi – 6″

If you own a Kindle already, tell me what you love or dislike about it. If you don’t and are wondering if this is right for you, I hope I’ve helped you in some way. If you have more concerns or questions, feel free to leave a comment below and I’ll try to answer them.  

** We were not compensated to write this post. The kindle was given to us to try out and keep. All the above views are my own and not influenced in any way by Amazon.com