Emma Laybourn's Blog

I've taken some time out from reviewing Smashwords free children's books, and instead have been happily compiling a selection of Tennyson's verse. Now I've made it into a free ebook. To download it in epub or mobi formats, please follow this link.

Why Tennyson? Well, because I've been a fan ever since I was 13 and was entranced by The Lotos-Eaters at school (thank you, Miss Moffat). When I couldn't find a selection for my Kindle online, I decided to make my own.

So I've filleted my battered copy of the Poetical Works of 1899, since it's in the public domain. I've included the best-known of Tennyson's poems- Ulysses, The Lady of Shalott, etc; taken sizeable extracts from the long works- Maud, In Memoriam, Enoch Arden, The Princess and Idylls of the King; added some explanatory notes (eg: who were the original Lotos-Eaters?) and, with the help of Calibre software, turned the whole lot into an ebook.

Tennyson- Selected Poems is now up on Scribd here, where you can read it online or download it as a free pdf file.

The ebook versions- mobi for Kindle and epub for Nook, Kobo, Sony Reader etc- can be downloaded from an orphan page of my website here.

Enjoy...

Continuing from my previous post, I've just waded through another tranche of free new children's ebooks from Smashwords, on my hunt for interesting, well-written free kids' reads.

Below are listed some of the better books (in my opinion) that I've found for children aged between about 7 and 12. I haven't included very short books. Click on the title to be taken to the book's Smashwords page, where you can download it or read it on screen.

So, in no particular order:

The Witch's Dog by Stepanie Dagg. One of several good-humoured stories about Cackling Carol the witch, for ages 7 and over. All Stephanie Dagg's Smashwords books are lively and readable: eg Escape the Volcano , a realistic adventure set in France, for ages 9 and up. (You can see a list of her books on the left of the Smashwords page.)
Grandpa Hates the Bird by Eve Yohalem. It's the family parrot who recounts his feud with Grandpa in this unusual comic story for ages 7 plus.
The Land of Miu by Karen le Field. Pacy adventure about a girl who discovers her pet cats are actually creatures of another race. For over 9s.
Leslie and the Lion by Jennifer Walker. A sensible story for horse-lovers of 8 and over.
4 go to Dumdumland by Patrick Edgeworth. The opening words, "I fart at thee," set the tone for this anarchic, silly and entertaining adventure about a land where everyone pretends to be stupid. For over 9s.
Flat Daddy Magic: Military Brats Club by Sara Barton. Lively story of US army kids, with a strong female lead; ages 8 and over.
The Heliand Train by Brynne McKay. Complex, skilfully-written historical fantasy about a mysterious railway; best for ages 11 and over.
The Kumquat Legacy by Randal Foster. An unusual treasure hunt story for over 10's.
Olivia's Secret Wish by Christopher Best. A somewhat sentimental but well-written tale of a girl's longing for a special pet; for over 8s.
Where Lions Roar at Night by Rosie Boom. Leisurely family story about setting up a new home in rural New Zealand (the lions are in a neighbouring wildlife park.) Age 10 plus.
Jazzberry and Fidget by Chris Mason. Annie tries to save her new fairy and dragon friends. Strictly for fairy lovers over 7.

As with my previous list, I'd emphasise that these are personal choices and there may well be others in the Smashwords catalogue that you would enjoy. I've still got another 400 or so free children's books to trawl through, so the next instalment of reviews may take a little while! In the meantime, happy reading.

So you (or your children) have a new e-book reader. It's great; but refuelling it with books is starting to get expensive. There's a limit to how many free children's classics you want to read. Where to look for new, free children's e-books?

A number of websites offer free original books; Smashwords is the biggest of these. I publish on it myself because it's user-friendly, has ebooks in lots of formats and doesn't require you to register to download them.

But... it is MASSIVE. There are over a thousand free original children's books on the site, with more added daily, and the quality is highly variable. I've started to trawl through them and would say that only a few books approach professional standard.

However, I've found some that are literate, readable and interesting for ages about 7 to 12. In no particular order, then...

Tsunami by Robin Stewart. (Click on the title to be taken to the right Smashwords page. Then scroll to the bottom of the page to download.) This Robinson Crusoe-style story is sensitively told. Age 9 and over.
Pirate the Barking Kookaburra by Adrian Plitzco. A good-natured story about a baby kookaburra befriended by 3 dogs and a cat. Age 8 up.
The Recycled Window by Anne deNize. While a little technical at times, this book has a thought-provoking central idea about a window reclaimed from a derelict spaceship. Age 10 up.
Spoticus by Andrew Francis. A clever, funny story about a boy who pits himself against a child-hating Prime Minister. I liked this one so much I've just given it 5 stars on the Smashwords website. English setting, some (slightly) rude words. For over-tens.
Bogamus the Troll by Nathan Jones. Not flawless, but fun, this inventive tale of a helpful troll would be good for ages 7 and over.
The Vampire Castle by Malla Duncan. If you like Harry Potter/vampires/horror, try this well-crafted and fast-moving adventure. Age 9 up.
Digger the Worm: a big dig by Peter Ponzo. A jolly little book about a forgetful worm. 6 plus.
Chute Roll by Sigmund Brouwer. Exciting story about a sky-diver in trouble with gangsters. Written in clear, easy language: 10 and up. By the same author, Long Shot is an easy read for 7 plus.

And here are some authors who have each written several shorter books that are well worth a try. (To see all the works by one author, click on the link, then look in the left-hand column on the Smashwords page.)

Daivd Elvar: Supermog and lots of others; slightly surreal stories that are fun for all ages.
Michael Wenberg: Melba's Slide Trombone and others, fairly slight but well-written. 7 and over.
John H. Carroll: Zachary Zombie and the Lost Boy, one of several 'stories for demented children' which are packed with emo bunnies, zombies, vampires and off-beat entertainment for over-nines.

I'm still only a third of the way through the Smashwords catalogue, so hope to add more books in future posts. Obviously these are personal choices and you may well enjoy others that I've passed over.
Happy Reading!

Some additions to my previous post:
There are half a dozen good-looking Christmassy picture books available to read on screen at wegivebooks.org. You have to log in to access them, though apparently you can do this via Facebook if you're not a networking dinosaur like me.

I've found an interesting website by Welsh children's author Rob Lewis, with several online stories including a snowy picture book called Cold Mouse, which you can read on-screen. (He also has a story for older children called "Snowmen", but it's not a festive read.)

And to add my own book to the list, my Christmas story Cold Cuthbert's Journey is now finished and up on my website. It's a short chapter book about a snowman on Christmas Eve who thinks that if it gets cold enough, he'll be able to walk (and he does). You can download it as a free Christmas e-book: children aged 7 to 10 could read it themselves (especially if you're buying them an e-reader for Christmas!) but it's also designed to be read aloud to slightly younger ones. Happy Reading.

Well, I've been having a good hunt for the above, with mixed results. The trouble is that although there are quite a few public domain Christmas compilations around, most really aren't child-friendly by modern standards.

For example: Project Gutenberg has A Budget of Christmas Tales by Charles Dickens and others. (you can follow the link to download or read on-screen) This includes A Christmas Carol and stories by Victorian children's authors like Mrs Ewing and Mrs Molesworth. However, they're very wordy and moral, and I wouldn't call any of them an easy read.

There's a collection of much shorter and simpler stories in Gutenberg's The Night before Christmas and other popular stories for children. This one starts with the famous poem of the same name; the old-fashioned stories will probably leave your kids bemused, if mildly entertained.

On a nice middle ground between these two lies
A Children's book of Christmas Stories (also from Gutenberg). The authors include Hans Christian Andersen and Susan Coolidge (the author of What Katy Did) and the stories are generally more readable than those in the first volume above - though best suited to older children.

What about modern stories? They're harder to find. Smashwords has a few free kids' Christmas stories, of which my favourite is Looking for Christmas by Mary Young, a gentle tale about giving.
I also liked A Newfangled Christmas by Betsey Haynes, a story for over 8's about a Santa bemused by modern technology.

There's an attractive picture book called The Best Christmas Gift by Ivan Parvov, available as a free pdf at freekidsbooks.org (sorry, I can't make a link to the exact book).

And my own Christmas story, Cold Cuthbert's Journey, is now up on my website (to read online or download as a free epub or mobi e-book.) There's a printable snowy crossword there too. The ebook is also available in all formats at Smashwords here.

And please see next post for links to a few more Christmassy stories...

I was checking my website statistics today to see how people reach my website Megamouse Books. As I'd expect, most come through links from other websites that list free kids' ebooks.

But I've also noticed a surprising number find me through Google searches, particularly for "Free dinosaur stories" or variations on that wording. There's obviously a demand there; bearing this in mind, I've just put up another easy dinosaur story, Elly and Aargh!

What really caught my eye today, though, were the other search terms that have - sometimes bafflingly - led people to Megamouse Books. For instance:
"Does gravy go with potato waffles?"
"And again up down all over splat"
"Broken fish"
and the rather poignant "does he like me or am I just a trophy?" (to which I suspect my book The Trophy Trap did not provide an answer.)

Still, at least with those terms I can see tenuous links to the stories on my website - unlike "I can hear something outside it's shuffling closer!" That's not in any story I've written, although I wish it was.
Or "I was in the middle of dinner and I still had a huge pile of ironing" (I sympathise with that one,) or the monosyllabic "Glum". Let's hope those Googlers found a story that made them slightly less so.

Well, now I know the answer to the question in my previous post. Was my book pirated? Yes, it was. I worked out from the cover image that One Thousand Lollipops had been lifted from free-ebooks.net and put up for sale on the Amazon Kindle store.

To their credit, when I contacted them, Amazon acted promptly, withdrawing the book within about 48 hours. And they gave me the full details of the fraudster, who is based in China.

What I don't understand is: why would anyone bother? Did they really think they were going to make any money out of it? (laughs hollowly.) Maybe I should be flattered, but I'm not. I'm just relieved that the book is back where it's meant to be: free to all.

Has someone pirated my book? Well, I suspect so, but I'm not sure yet...
It's my ebook for children, One Thousand Lollipops, which I put up for free on three self-publishing websites (the ones listed on my post of 7th August).

And now it's popped up on the Amazon Kindle Store, no longer free, but £2.95.
How? Why? Who's put it there, and who's getting the profits? (Meagre though they are likely to be.)

The sample on the Kindle store appears to be the version from either the Feedbooks website or Free-ebooks.net. I've contacted Amazon, but don't know how long I'll have to wait for an answer about how it got there. I'm happy for them to stock it as a free ebook, but not for them to charge for it.

Meanwhile, if you come across it there, don't buy it, please. Get it free from Smashwords or Feedbooks instead.

Ta-da! My free SF book for kids, Cosmic Camel, has been through its umpteenth revision and is ready to go online.

The question is: where? I'll put a sample on my website, but can't face converting the whole 23,000 words into html. So I want to put it on a self-publishing site and link to it there. My options are:

Smashwords: pros - lots. It lets you upload books that are free or for sale, converts them to all ebook formats for you, and acts as distributor to other ebook stores. Importantly for me, it appears to have the adult filter automatically on, so I feel happy directing young readers there from my website.
Cons: It's huge and getting huger. There are so many books uploading daily that it's easy for yours to disappear. Download figures aren't that impressive compared to other sites (see my post of 7th August).

Feedbooks: Pros: presents its books well, has healthy download figures and a big international readership. There aren't many children's books on it so mine are fairly visible.
Cons: aargh! No automatic filter. The prevalence of adult content means I can't direct readers there from my website, as Cosmc Camel will be surrounded by some quite mind-boggling titles.

free-ebooks.net: Pros: popular site, so it tells me. Potentially high (though very uneven) download figures.
Cons: several, unfortunately. It takes ages for each webpage to download - it's clicking away for ever on my screen. Limited ebook formats, unless I pay for them. And they charge users to download more than 5 ebooks a month - a bit cheeky I reckon, considering that many of their books are public domain ones freely available elsewhere.

There are more self-publishing sites out there - like Lulu, BookRix and BookTango - of which I have no experience, although I'd be very interested to hear the comments of anyone who does.

Meanwhile, it's decision time. And because of its filter and user-friendliness, it has to be Smashwords...

Except um, no, it doesn't. I just tried to upload the book's details and either the site or my computer is glitching and won't let me (sigh).
If you want something doing, do it yourself... so the freshly home-baked ebooks of Cosmic Camel (epub and mobi versions) are now available exclusively from my website here, free to all hungry readers.
Please take a look and help yourself. Happy Reading!

Since my revision of Cosmic Camel is bogged down in an alien sand-dune, I've chosen a story for younger children as the next freebie to go on my website. The Thing in the Dungeon is the first of a series of stories about strange and funny goings-on at Custard Castle. Although at 1500 words it's the shortest book on the site, it's been a gruelling process getting it up there...

This is what's involved. First off: copy the story from Word onto Notepad, and turn it into a webpage by adding several hundred html tags.
Then change half the punctuation, as html mangles standard text by showing apostrophes and speech marks as small boxes. So if I'm not careful, my story will end up looking like an abandoned crossword.

Next: check my html with the W3C validator, which tells me I have 5 errors. Hmm, not too bad.
Correct it, and check again. Discover I have 10 errors. What?
Correct it, and check again. Discover I have 72 errors.
Scream quietly, before realising that one missing tag has had a knock-on effect on the subsequent 71 lines. Fix it. Have a little lie-down.

Once revived, scan my drawings and play around happily with Photoshop until they're right for the webpage. Oh, and design a simple cover for the ebook versions, which I make with the free software from the Calibre website.
That's the easiest part of the whole process. Calibre is wonderful; you can use it to make your own ebooks, or convert existing ones from epub to mobi to pdf etc and back again.

Upload the lot and check the links work. Job done. So the finished version of The Thing in the Dungeon is now ready to read here. I'm going for another little lie-down.