What if our children had instant access to a library with thousands of books from countries all over the world — a place that invited them to drop by, read, and learn about one another (and without driving)? Imagine what they could find out about the world’s cultures, celebrations, languages, differences, and also about what they have in common.
That just about describes the mission of the International Children’s Digital Library (ICDL), an online destination hosted at the University of Maryland. The massive website, with digitized books in 61 languages is the largest online collection of multicultural children’s literature, and everything on the site promotes reading and the love of diversity.
Just by clicking on the animated Read Books! icon in the middle of the ICDL home page, readers young and old, are off and reading. The multi-cultural aspect comes from interacting with books that are read and languages spoken by children in 42 other countries.
No additional software is required — the site has everything and it’s well designed — so pick up a book, well click on it, actually, and start reading.
Use these ICDL simple search instructions and you are off on rich and textured digital adventures.
Take some time to share ICDL with your children. It a great site for them to explore along, but perfect for parent-child tech times.
Media! Tech! Parenting! 