The sights and sounds of three fascinating habitats come alive in our stunning, interactive e-books:
The Hidden World of the Pond
The Hidden World of the Forest
The Hidden World of the Meadow
Grab a pair of binoculars, a magnifying glass and your love for learning about nature! World-renowned nature photographer Dwight Kuhn and I invite you to explore the beautiful and complex worlds of ponds, forests and meadows in our new interactive e-books, now available for iPad and Kindle. On the iTunes Store and Amazon, downloads of these e-books cost $4.99 per title, but . . . iPad and Kindle editions of all three books will be available as free downloads from February 14th through 18th!
Anyone can get the special price of zero dollars and zero cents so you can spread the word, but we’re publicizing it only to my e-mail short list of about 350 people. After Feb. 19, the price will be $4.99 per book on Amazon and the iTunes store.
Why are we doing this? We want some buzz… and we’re hoping you’re willing to do some buzzing by writing a review on Amazon or the iTunes store. There is no obligation, of course, but we’d sure appreciate it. The success of e-books depends on user reviews. Each book has to be reviewed separately (there is no way to review the entire series at once) but you could post the same review for each book. It’s best for us if all three books are reviewed.
To download one or more of these e-books for Kindle, just go to the iTunes store for the iPad edition, or Amazon for the Kindle edition. Search for each book by its title. (You may remember my nature books from the 1990s called The Hidden Life of the Pond…Forest…Meadow. These are adaptations of those books, thoroughly updated.)
Both the Kindle and the iPad editions include Dwight Kuhn’s stunning nature photography and my informative text, and both include lushly interactive features, listed below. (The Kindle platform does not allow as many features as the iPad). Both editions include a page of recommended readings, an index, and author and photographer bios.
iPad
- hear the sound made by the animals
- hear difficult words spoken
- view additional photos in dramatic slide shows
- zoom in to see animals in startling detail
- get more information and additional photo about some subjects
- bookmark spots of special interest
- view thumbnails of the entire book
- tap any word for definition
- search for subjects (better than a conventional index!)
- take photo quiz with links to pages that answer the questions
- peruse live-linked index organized by animal/plant classification
Kindle
- tap word for definition (glossary)
- highlight passages or words
- search the internet or wiki for more information
- peruse live-linked index organized by animal/plant classification
- zoom in to see animals in great detail
- listen to Amazon’s text read-a-long (and control the speed)
This is thrilling and I can’t wait to use the series with my students. Congratulations on delving into a new medium that enthralls so many!
Margo
Thanks for your congratulations and your enthusiasm, Margo. I look forward to hearing how your students respond to the e-books. I also hope you’ll have a chance to write reviews. (It can be the same review for all three, or very similar.)
When will they be available for PC and Android?
We’re not sure. We started with just two platforms (iPad and Kindle) and we’ll see how it goes. But note that you can install the Kindle app for free on many devices and then read anything available for Kindle on that device. But do note that the Kindle functionality is not nearly as great as the iPad in terms of interactive features. Thanks for writing, Laura! David