I love Sylvan Dell Publishing’s Fun eReader Picture Books App! The eBooks are a great way to introduce your children to nature, math, and science in a fun and entertaining way. I have used it at home with my own children and in my classroom, and both my children and my students loved it!

The eBooks stream from the cloud or can be downloaded to your iPad for traveling. There are over 90 books available, and best of all, there is a Spanish language option! There are also a variety of ways for reading the book too. It is possible to choose either the Read-to-Me, Read-to-Myself, or AutoPlay option. My kids love that they can listen to the stories and flip through the pages of the iPad stories all on their own.

The books are filled with beautiful illustrations and cover science and math subjects in a way that is interesting and fun to learn. At the back of each book, there are fun educational sections that enable parents and teachers to help further explore the facts and information covered in the book. The “For Creative Minds” section presents amazing facts about strange animals, faraway places, earth, space, science, and even math concepts. I especially love that the app provides parents and teachers with teaching activity guides. These guides contain pre-reading and post reading questions, activities such as word searches, vocabulary puzzles, and even map activities to help further learning.  The app even has on-line quizzes that can test for reading comprehension.

I love this app! My children are absolutely thrilled with the books and love learning about different animals, the ocean, and outer space.  I love that through reading stories, they are exploring science and math concepts. I have also used this app in my Spanish classes, and the students were very enthusiastic to learn and read with this fun app.

The Sylvan Dell Publishing’s eReader is a great way to make learning fun! The beautifully illustrated eBooks will captivate, entertain, and educate your child, and best of all, the stories can be read in Spanish too!

The Giveaway!

We are giving away ONE annual subscription to a personal eLibrary, a $70 ARV, to the Sylvan Dell eBooks iPad app Fun eReader to one lucky winner. The subscription will get you iPad access and also access through your computer and other devices at home to all the ebooks in the library. All you have to do is visit Sylvan Dell eBooks page, check out the “test drive” option and tell us what you like best about this app. Then, enter the rafflecopter below.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Editor’s note: We continue with our week of Sylvan Dell Publishing Spanish-language book reviews. Check out the book review below and don’t forget to enter our GIVEAWAY for each book reviewed, but also the GIVEAWAY on Friday for a one year subscription to the Sylvan Dell eBooks iPad app Fun eReader!

BOOK DESCRIPTION/REVIEW

Many of us remember the time we asked for a pet when we were little. In La mascota perfecta (A Perfect Pet in English), author Samantha Bell takes us through some unexpected options as a little boy is trying to find the ‘perfect pet.’ The author cleverly weaves high academic vocabulary with a catchy story line. And by using plenty of colorful and well-drawn illustrations, she makes sure children are engaged while learning the different animal kingdoms such as: reptiles, invertebrates, mammals and carnivores, among others.

I personally put this book to the test in my own classroom and read it the first week of school to my fourth grade students. As the story line progressed, the more intrigued my students were. The best part? Everyone thought they knew how the book was going to end, but it was a big surprise to us all. My students loved it!

BOOK DETAILS

Title: La mascota perfecta

Author and Illustrator: Samantha Bell

Publisher/Year: Sylvan Dell Publishing/2013

Ages: 8+

ISBN: 978-1-60718-7189

Price: $17.95

Website: Sylvan Dell Publishing

The Giveaway!

We are giving away one copy of La mascota perfecta to one lucky winner. All you have to do is leave us a comment letting us know why you think your child will enjoy this book.

You can also enter to win one of the other three Sylvan Dell Publishing books we’re giving away, plus an annual subscription to its Fun eReader for iPad and computer devices. To enter each one, visit this link.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Editor’s note: We continue with our week of Sylvan Dell Publishing Spanish-language book reviews. Check out the book review below and don’t forget to enter our GIVEAWAY for each book reviewed, but also the GIVEAWAY on Friday for a one year subscription to the Sylvan Dell eBooks iPad app Fun eReader!

BOOK DESCRIPTION/REVIEW

A grandfather builds a fort for his granddaughter using “six simple machines” in “La Fortaleza de la Calle Cuatro: Una historia acerca de seis máquinas simples” by Lois Spangler and illustrated by Christina Wald. Like all books in English and Spanish from Sylvan Dell Publishing, each story includes a non-fiction “Creative Minds” section with activities and informational text.

I was impressed by the quality of this book from cover to cover and although the target audience is ages 4-9, my 11-year-old and I enjoyed it together. As non-native speakers we even learned new words such as “polea” for “pulley” which we don’t typically use in everyday language around the house!

BOOK DETAILS

Title: La Fortaleza de la Calle Cuatro: Una historia acerca de seis máquinas simples

Author: Lois Spangler

Illustrator: Christina Wald

Ages: 4-9 years

Publisher/Year: Sylvan Dell/2013

ISBN: 978-1-60718-717-2

Price: $17.95

Website: Sylvan Dell Publishing

The Giveaway!

We are giving away one copy of La Fortaleza de la Calle Cuatro to one lucky winner. All you have to do is leave us a comment letting us know why you think your child will enjoy this book. Then, enter the Rafflecopter below.

You can also enter to win one of the other three Sylvan Dell Publishing books we’re giving away, plus an annual subscription to its Fun eReader for iPad and computer devices. To enter each one, visit this link.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Editor’s note: We continue with our week of Sylvan Dell Publishing Spanish-language book reviews. Check out the book review below and don’t forget to enter our GIVEAWAY for each book reviewed, but also the GIVEAWAY on Friday for a one year subscription to the Sylvan Dell eBooks iPad app Fun eReader!

BOOK DESCRIPTION/REVIEW

In ¿Hay alguien en casa? by Marianne Berkes, Zara Zarigúeya is looking for a home where she can raise her expected baby possums. The reader learns that some animals are diurnal (awake during the day), while others are nocturnal. Each animal has a different type of house that is perfectly suited to them: the bees living in the colmena so they can take care of their queen, the nido of the birds, high in the trees to protect the babies from predators. In the end Zara does find a home perfectly suited for her in time for her babies.

This was a wonderful book for my nature-loving kids, and compliments their lessons in school about animal homes. Whether in English or Spanish, I especially appreciated the vocabulary presented because even the newer terms were easy to understand with the colorful illustrations and detailed text. My four children (ages 5-9) and I highly recommend this book for elementary-aged kids.

BOOK DETAILS

Title: ¿Hay alguien en casa?

Author: Marianne Berkes

Illustrator: Rebecca Dickinson

Ages: 4-10 years

Publisher/Year: Sylvan Dell/2013

ISBN: 978-1-60718-7141

Price: $17.95

Website: Sylvan Dell Publishing

The Giveaway!

We are giving away one copy of ¿Hay alguien en casa? to one lucky winner. All you have to do is leave us a comment letting us know why you think your child will enjoy this book.

You can also enter to win one of the other three Sylvan Dell Publishing books we’re giving away, plus an annual subscription to its Fun eReader for iPad and computer devices. To enter each one, visit this link.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

BOOK DESCRIPTION/REVIEW

When I learned that Sylvan Dell Publishing publishes award-winning picture books about math and science in Spanish, I was immediately interested in checking them out. At 7 years old, Vanessa is enthralled by anything related to the ocean, jungle animals, space, the planets and how things work, so I knew the review book we got would be a hit.

The book is called Un día en la profundidad and this is what my daughter had to say about it: “I liked learning more about the animals in the deep. The pictures are cool because they told me more about what I was reading.” In fact, she was so impressed by the illustrations, that she made two drawings based on what she had seen and read!

Personally, I enjoyed the realistic images, the wealth of information and the impeccable Spanish translation. Each books comes with an additional educational section, which is perfect to continue the exploration of the topic discussed.

We liked Sylvan Dell Publishing books so much, that we’ll be reviewing — and giving away — all four of its Fall 2013 titles in Spanish as well as its iPad app Fun eReader this week!

BOOK DETAILS

Title: Un día en la profundidad

Author: Kevin Kurtz

Illustrator: Erin E. Hunter

Ages: 4-9 years

Publisher/Year: Sylvan Dell/2013

ISBN: 978-1-60718-7185

Price: $17.95

Website: Sylvan Dell Publising

The Giveaway!

We are giving away one copy of Un día en la profundidad to ONE lucky winner. All you have to do is leave us a comment letting us know why you think your child will enjoy this book and enter the rafflecopter below.

You can also enter to win one of the other three Sylvan Dell Publishing books we’re giving away, plus an annual subscription to its Fun eReader for iPad and computer devices. To enter each one, visit this link.

a Rafflecopter giveaway