The tools on this page make use of traditional book elements (text and photos) to create electronic books. In many cases the books can also be printed if desired but having them published online gives them an immediate audience.

1. Mixbooks - I reviewed this site under Photo Fun and it is primarily a tool for producing Photo Books. However, a small amount of text can be used and its professional look and ease of use may be of interest to some. Remember that as well as adding photos you can upload student drawings you have scanned in. Why not produce an illustrated book of student poems!


2. Tikatok - Your e-mail needs to be validated before using this tool. This is an educational site designed to allow pupils to write their own book. Once created the books can be viewed by others and even purchased.Text, colour and images are easily edited. As well as adding your own images there is a collection of Community uploaded images to use. You can control access to the books by placing them within a club. Viewers also have the ability to comment on the created books. The books can be started from scratch or alternatively there is a useful template tool called 'StorySpark' which will give your students a scaffold of ideas for different genres. You can invite friends to view the book with you through email although as far as I could see there was no way for collaboration other than sharing a username and password. This would only support asynchronous editing as the page does not automatically refresh when an edit is made. To be honest, while the inviting friends option is robost in order to protect children, I found it a bit cumbersome This is an example book below.



3. Bookbuilder - Your e-mail needs to be validated before using this tool. There are a range of page templates to choose from. Images can be no larger than 300Kb so you may need to reduce image file sizes before your students begin writing their books. You can add audio files to your books which are read by one of three cartoon characters. Not the slickest of tools but it works and their is also the option to download and view your interactive books offline. Individual pages can be printed while viewing the finished books. Click Here for an example.

4. Big Universe - A good looking child friendly site. You must verify your e-mail to begin. You can read books created by other users or even books created by professional authors and publishers which makes this site an excellent source for free school books. Books can be rated and added to a bookshelf for future reading. You can also buy any book you like. There is an expert section with hints and tips for the creation of your own book. I didn't find the editor the easiest to use for writing books because it was so flexible. While you can add text boxes and images anywhere on the page, I find that sometimes a more linear approach such as you get with Microsoft word seems to suit books better. That said, it works well and there is a wide range of clipart to choose from.
Click Here for an example book created by a student.



5. FormatPixl - This is a very professional looking website which produces a quality product. There is a free version but note that the available memory space is only 500k. Paid versions start from £15 per annum and while this may be too much for students you may decide to use this to publish your own class materials. You can begin without validating your password. This is a more sophisticated tool and would suit older students who are looking for a more professional looking product. You can add Youtube videos as well as images to your book. You could enquire to see whether they have any educational discounts as you may feel this tool would be worth purchasing. Note there was no apparent way to print out the finished books. Click Here to view an example book.

6. Bookglutton - This is a very useful website for educators and takes reading books to a completely new level. In essence the tool allows you read the online book and chat to others who are reading the same book. In addition you can leave comments on the various paragraphs of a book to create a conversation this way. Teachers could annotate books or leave questions for discussion. Currently there are 1159 books on the website which will limit its educational use if the class book you are reading is not listed. However, there is an option to upload your own book in either Word, HTML, RTF or plain text format. This means you could put up student work to peer assess or to show an exemplar answer, or you could put up your own notes for student comment. Depending on the copyright of books you may be using, you could perhaps upload a significant chapter. Increasingly books are being put online in electonic form so you may be able to get a copy elsewhere that you can upload...could save an awful lot of typing! For example Project Gutengurg has 25,000 books and access to another 75,000 through partners.



7. Protagonize - This tool is designed to allow multiple users to write a collaborative book. You can either start your own book or add to someone else's. This could be used perhaps to write alternative ending to books or as intended to write a work of fiction. I suppose you could also use this tool to write a set of class notes although there are better tools for this. As well as writing the book you have the option to rate and add comments to stories. This means you could also use the tool as a peer assessment tool.

8. Webook - You can begin without validating your e-mail. This is a very professional looking and user friendly site. There is advice on how to write different genres of literature and plenty of other peoples books to read. You can control who can read or add to your work which gives you some control of security and the ability to limit the publication to your class or group. Once this has been decided it is as simple as typing in your story. Some of the books are of a more adult nature although you may be able to bypass the search functions by directing your students to the book you want your students to read. Click here to read an example book from the website.

9. Plotbot - This tool is specifically designed for script writing. You can write a private script or a public one that others can contribute to. This is a very simple to use tool which could be used by a group to produce a script for performance in class. Well worth a look if you are writing scripts.

10. Zhura - This is free online screen writing/script writing tool. Several genres are catered for, screen play, sitcom etc. and you have the option to write on your own, with invited friends or in an open community. There are hints and tips for each genre to assist budding writers. Should be of interest to English and Drama teachers.



11. Wixbooks - Wix is a new site for producing websites. It is one of the most exciting tools I have seen in a long time. They are launching a new tool called Wixbooks which looks excellent. At the moment it is only available on the paid version but if it becomes available as a free tool I would have a look. Click Here to see an example of Wixbook in action.

12. Making the News - This is a tool to allow users to create their own newspaper using two templates. Works reasonably well although the columns can go a bit funny.

13. Heekya - A new site which is not yet on public release. Allows you to tell stories with text, photo and video. Also seems to have the ability to add geographical tags. There is a screencast on the homepage if you want to have a look and bookmark for future use.

14. Issuu - This website is more for reading magazines than creating them. Thousands of magazines/books have been uploaded and can be read for free. You an subscribe to magazines that you are interested in, your very own electonic library.

15. Google Books - Read and search thousands of books on-line for free

16. Forgotten Books - This site specialises in old or sacred books. Books can be read for free and there are links to the books on Amazon if you wish to buy.

17. Interactive Handwriting - This is a useful tool for primary teachers trying to teach pupils how to form letters. You can shape your letters then replay the process. Simple but effective.

18. ManyBooks - Download books for free, 22, 800 available. Different formats are available from a traditional PDF to newer formats for Sony Readers.

19. Writing Fun - This is a series of writing frames to assist students in writing a variety of genres. There is no sign up required to use and the finished document can be printed. This does mean that there is no save function so the task will need to be completed in one go. There are also hints and tips for the student and the tool could be used on a data projector.



20. Mixed Ink - A collaborative writing tool. Students can create a topic and then anyone can edit the text to create a final document. There is also a rating function to vote on their favourite piece of writing. One interesting use is demonstrated in the example below. Rather than using to edit a final document, each student has created their own version. These 'ideas' can then be used by everyone in order to produce a piece of writing. This might be useful for gathering evidence for an evaluative essay. You could also go for one finished version but in my experience students have not yet embraced the idea of shared editing as they seem to prefer their own ownership.



21. My EBook - One of the most professional tools I have seen in this category, very simple to use and creates an excellent finsihed product. You can either upload content such as scans or pictures etc. or alternatively you can add backgrounds, text etc. direct from the book editor. This tool also allows you to enter video, audio and Flash Animations to your book. So many uses, perhaps you could use it to create a resource for your students...looks an awful lot better than a VLE. Alternatively you could get students to create their own books. Click Here to view one example from a UK Primary school. Another interesting feature is that you can leave comments when viewing a book.



22. Panraven - In essence a book editor that includes text, picture, video and audio in your finshed product with a wide range of templates to get you started. It has full control over who can view the finished story and they can be shared with individual or groups. As always care should be taken with the social networking options. The finished product can be printed if desired. Click on the example below to see what it offers.



23. We Make Stories - This website allows students to create their stories in a number of different formats. They can create a turning page book, a comic or a tresure map. It has a primary school feel and there are some limitations (For example cartoon only has 1 page) however I really likde the look and usability of the tool. It seems to be connected to Puffin Books.



24. Storybird - Many of these tools are very similar but storybird is sufficiently different to be worth a look. As well as being a tool to write books, it is a place for illustrators to show off their talents. This means you can write your book around a set of pictures supplied by an aritst and I was really impressed by some of the material available (see screenshot). You could use a variety of pictures to create a unique story or alternative give a class of pupils the same picture and see how each of them interprets the story differently.