love it when students create something original. 

Ok, sometimes those original projects turn out to be a hot mess. But most of the time, they are wonderful examples of students really learning something. 

So how do we do this, you may ask?

Think digital books. 

(If you think you know everything about this topic ….. keep reading because you are going to be surprised at all the new things you can do with it.  It’s even better than before!)

Book Creator is a website and app that allows the students to put together text, audio, images and video to create fabulous online books. The books don’t have to be just for pleasure reading, they can be:

• Comic books
• Interactive stories
• Lab reports
• Portfolios of their work
• “How to” guides
• Recipe books
• “All about me” presentations
• Research reports
• Book reports
• Poetry projects

Honestly, the options are endless. 

Let me show you how they work.

Whether you’re using the app or the computer, the menu looks exactly the same. All you need to do is go to:

https://bookcreator.com/

Click on New Book > Choose a Size > Start writing! 

Here is what a new digital book looks like:

The video above shows you the simple menu. It’s full of options! Once you create the book, you just click on the plus sign  (“+”) to add text, images, illustrations or audio recordings. You can choose photos or videos from your computer or you can search for better ones. You can also change the background colors or add shapes, lines and speech bubbles. Seriously, it’s super easy.

Here are some examples of the tools I used to create this book:

I love adding audio recordings to books also. Students can easily narrate a section of the book, add additional information orally or just read what is written on the page. Reading out loud is an excellent skill to develop and a wonderful way for the reader to experience the book as well. 

One of my favorite projects was when the 6th graders would write a book and then record themselves reading each page. Then they would pass their books to the 1st or 2nd graders, who would listen to the audio recording while reading along. It was an excellent literacy project for everyone involved! 

Book Creator has a bunch of fun features that allow you to create comics. Instead of creating a regular book, choose the “comics” and BAM! You have a comic strip!

Take a look at this very short video. It shows you how to create a comic strip, where to find fun fonts and how to add stickers. POW! CRASH! YEH!

• Students can work in groups on collaborative books. They can all work on one book simultaneously (online version). 

• Publish the book to the web and share it with family and friends. The link gives your audience access to a book with pages that appear to turn like a real book. It’s great! 

• You can “app smash” easily. Meaning, you can add material from other apps to your digital book like Adobe Spark, Flipgrid, Canva etc.

• Try the “AutoDraw” feature. Just start to draw something and the app will suggest a professional illustration for you.

• There are tons of Themes and Templates for things like newspapers, magazines, textbook covers etc.

And don’t let the simple interface fool you. This is a powerful online tool that is good for any age, young and old. 

Still not convinced? Take a look at all of these examples of super creative digital books:

Like I always say, creative projects like these are a wonderful way to learn. Just make sure that when you assign something like this, that you give your students clear guidelines.  Create a book of your own or show them examples of digital books from other students. Also remember to give them specific details for what to include, such as “10 vocabulary words” or “5 photos” or “2 audio recordings explaining this topic”, etc.  This way they know exactly what you expect. 

Most importantly, allow them to express themselves in an original and creative manner. That is when you will be blown away at the results. 

Let me know in the comments how it went!