# Kindle v Nook v ???: the Young Adult version **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 19, 2010, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kindle-v-nook-v-the-young-adult-version/564738 "2010-12-19T18:38:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2010, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kindle-v-nook-v-the-young-adult-version/564738/1 "2010-12-19T18:38:23Z")
I was checking on a Kindle (or similar) device for my son, the most voracious reader in the family. I looked through the thread, [Kindle or Nook?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=571508&highlight=Kindle+Nook), but the Boy is only twelve - he’ll be thirteen in February. Beyond the question of which device is best, I’m also wondering to what extent the books available on these devices are targeted towards Young Adult readers. Particularly “free books”. I don’t mind buying books but he reads at a rate that could easily bankrupt me if I had to pay for every book he reads. Thoughts? Suggestions? I don’t have any personal experience with any of the e-readers. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2010, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kindle-v-nook-v-the-young-adult-version/564738/2 "2010-12-20T02:50:19Z")
It may be worth checking to see whether your public library lends e-books and, if so, what kind of selection they have and what devices they’re compatible with. I haven’t looked into this myself, but it might be a consideration; if I understand correctly, the one big advantage that ePub-format readers (Nook, etc.) have over the Kindle is that they’re compatible with library lending. As for how many free books are targeted toward his age… well, I notice that [manybooks.net](http://manybooks.net) (one good source of free e-books) currently lists [2382](http://manybooks.net/categories/CHI) books for “young readers.” I don’t know how many of those are worth reading (some aren’t even in English), how many are below his age level (some of them, at least, are probably too juvenile for him), and how many other books on that side would be the kind of thing he’d enjoy even though they aren’t included in the “young readers” classification. But I’ll bet if you started a Cafe Society thread asking for recommendations, especially if you told us what kind of books he likes, you’d get some good recommendations for books that are freely available in electronic form. ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2010, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kindle-v-nook-v-the-young-adult-version/564738/3 "2010-12-20T13:33:23Z")
I can’t speak for the Nook, I have a Kindle. There are free books, but you have to search hard; they’re always books that are long out of copyright. And there are usually lots of editions, so it can take some time to find the ones that are free (or very low cost, like under $1.) It’s kind of annoying that I can’t sort the search by price. If you’re looking for fairly new books, you won’t find 'em free on Kindle. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Moto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de0a6/32.png) [@Mr.Moto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Moto)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2010, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kindle-v-nook-v-the-young-adult-version/564738/4 "2010-12-20T16:31:55Z")
> [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](#): > > If you’re looking for fairly new books, you won’t find 'em free on Kindle. That’s not entirely true - many authors publish using Creative Commons licenses and place their works on ebook sites for free. Feedbooks has quite a few of these. The real problem here is filtering - most of us want to have, if not control, at least visibility into what our kids are reading. Many of these sites don’t provide that directly. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2010, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kindle-v-nook-v-the-young-adult-version/564738/5 "2010-12-20T16:38:46Z")
**C K Dexter Haven** , maybe you’re just not looking in the right places. For older, out-of-copyright works, an alternative to searching Amazon itself is to download books from somewhere like Project Gutenberg ([www.gutenberg.org](http://www.gutenberg.org)) or the aforementioned [manybooks.net](http://manybooks.net), where all titles are free. (Although the books won’t get automatically sent to your Kindle, like when you “buy” from Amazon; you have to transfer them yourself.) There are also newer books that are free for the Kindle, because the author or publisher has decided to make them free (sometimes for a limited time only). See [here (at the “Books on the Knob” blog)](http://booksontheknob.blogspot.com/p/kindle-free-reads-list.html) for a list of free books for the Kindle that are available at Amazon itself. Check the [“Creative Commons” section of manybooks.net](http://manybooks.net/categories/CCL) for quite a few free recent books. And of course there’s the [Baen Free Library](http://www.baen.com/library/). And if you go to Amazon’s Kindle Store, you can find their list of 100 best-“selling” free Kindle offerings (alongside their Top 100 Paid list). I agree, though, that with certain older books, there are many different editions available, for many different prices, and it can be confusing and frustrating searching for the “right” one. Last night I tried to find good versions of Lewis Carroll’s works to download; as far as I could tell, there’s no free version of _Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland_ that includes the Tenniel illustrations; and the only free version of _Through the Looking Glass_ doesn’t have any illustrations at all. ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2010, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kindle-v-nook-v-the-young-adult-version/564738/6 "2010-12-22T17:00:55Z")
in today’s USA Today, [comparing Kindle v Nook v iPad v Galaxy etc](http://www.usatoday.com/tech/products/2010-12-22-ereader22_ST_N.htm?loc=interstitialskip). ---
**Author:** ![Unintentionally\_Blank](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unintentionally_blank/32/5418_2.png) [@Unintentionally\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unintentionally_Blank)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2010, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kindle-v-nook-v-the-young-adult-version/564738/7 "2010-12-22T17:16:23Z")
The nook seems most compatible with the, uh, works of quasi-legality on sites that distribute things via a technology that rhymes with TitBorrent. I have 23 Gb of ebooks…that’s a LOT of reading. Yes, there’s more than a slight pang to my conscience, which is why I continue to buy current stuff. ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2010, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kindle-v-nook-v-the-young-adult-version/564738/8 "2010-12-22T17:17:53Z")
My only exposure to that sort of site was for the watching of football (soccer) matches not broadcast back in the local area. I had no idea it was also used for books. ---
**Author:** ![Shark\_Sandwich](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f04885/32.png) [@Shark\_Sandwich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shark_Sandwich)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2010, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kindle-v-nook-v-the-young-adult-version/564738/9 "2010-12-22T17:32:53Z")
Both of my daughters (9 and 12) have a Kindle. Granted there are many more options for my oldest daughter, but we’ve downloaded a few books for my youngest as well. My oldest daughter is a voracious reader, but I really didn’t think my 9 year old would take to it. Boy was I wrong. She doesn’t go anywhere without it, and has even started leaving her Nintendo DSi at home when she stays at a friends or when we go on longish car rides. We’ve only paid for the books we’ve installed, but I don’t think I’ve paid more then $6 for a book so far. ---
**Author:** ![Unintentionally\_Blank](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unintentionally_blank/32/5418_2.png) [@Unintentionally\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unintentionally_Blank)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2010, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kindle-v-nook-v-the-young-adult-version/564738/10 "2010-12-22T17:45:56Z")
> [@ShibbOleth](#): > > My only exposure to that sort of site was for the watching of football (soccer) matches not broadcast back in the local area. I had no idea it was also used for books. I finally reconciled it with: Ever bought a box of books at a garage sale? Ever spent any considerable time going to the library? Ever borrowed a friend’s book? I still make sure I financially contribute to the ecosystem, but it’s made it REALLY easy to get those books I used to have as a kid and re-read them. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2010, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kindle-v-nook-v-the-young-adult-version/564738/11 "2010-12-22T18:22:44Z")
I have a Kindle and love it. I’ve been reading/rereading the works of Arthur Conan Doyle. All available for the Kindle, and all free. I read many of them when I was around 12 (when the author was still around).