Your kids can read thousands of free e-books and audiobooks!

Local organizations make it simple for students to point and click their way to reading, no matter where they are.

The Palm Beach County School District, the Palm Beach County Library System and the 10 city libraries in Palm Beach County offer online book options — for free!

PALM BEACH COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICT

Students who attend traditional public schools in Palm Beach County are assigned a login and password, which opens a world of e-books through the district’s online portal. Using platforms such as MackinVIA and Tumblebooks, students can download or stream thousands of titles.

E-books from MackinVIA and Gale can be viewed on a laptop or desktop computer and are downloadable to mobile devices. Once downloaded, the books can be read until the loan period expires when they disappear from the device, or they can be renewed. Tumblebooks, which has collections for elementary school-aged readers, is a streaming service that requires a WiFi connection.

Only enrolled students can access the portal. Parents cannot receive credentials, nor can students who attend private, parochial or charter schools. The service is assigned to each student, so it follows them from school to school as they grow.

To learn more about how to access the district’s collections, click here. Students can visit their school’s media resource specialist for a login and password.

PALM BEACH COUNTY LIBRARY SYSTEM

With just a library card number, readers can click into the county’s thousands of free titles through download services.

The main e-book resources for recreational reading are Hoopla and cloudLibrary. They are equally easy to use, but you do need to create an account with your library card number and an email address on Hoopla, says Michelle Quigley, a county research librarian. CloudLibrary needs only a library card number. 

Hoopla and cloudLibrary have children's books and include a kids mode designed for readers 12 and younger.

CITY LIBRARIES

Each city library also offers an online reading selection for their residents who have library cards in good standing. The Mandel Public Library of West Palm Beach welcomes "anyone who lives, works, learns or plays in West Palm Beach" to register for a free library card.

Check out the offerings by city:

• Boca Raton Public Library: https://www.myboca.us/979/Audiobooks-eBooks
• Boynton Beach City Library: https://www.boynton-beach.org/226/Entertainment
• Delray Beach Public Library: https://www.delraylibrary.org/digital-resources/
• Lake Park Public Library: https://www.lakeparkflorida.gov/government/departments/lake-park-public-library/electronic-resources/e-books-to-download
• Lake Worth Beach Public Library: https://sefl-municipal.overdrive.com/ and https://ebook.yourcloudlibrary.com/library/LakeWorthBeachPublicLibrary/Featured
• Lantana Public Library:  https://www.lantanalibrary.org/164/Audiobooks-E-Books
• Mandel Public Library of West Palm Beach: https://www.wpb.org/government/mandel-public-library-of-west-palm-beach/e-books-movies-music
• North Palm Beach Public Library: https://www.village-npb.org/473/e-Books-and-More
• Palm Springs Public Library: https://www.vpsfl.org/270/eBooks
• Riviera Beach Public Library (scroll down to cloudLibrary or Libby: https://www.rivierabch.com/content/57801/58165/58167/58216/59817/78082/default.aspx

ONE MORE RESOURCE

Book Riot provides free audiobooks to teens during the summer that they can download and keep, even after the summer is over.

SOURCES: 

• Stephanie Sunshine, instructional specialist, School District of Palm Beach County
• Michelle Quigley, research librarian, Palm Beach County Library System
• Marisa Montesino, librarian, Palm Beach County Library System