Nearly 9 year old & e-books- Kindle?

[Thismummyrunstheshow]

DD is soon to be 9 and is an avid reader. She has more books than anyone I know and loves getting a new book.

She's asked for something like her iPad where she can read books when we travel without the need for bringing a number of heavy books (think Harry Potter size). This could end up being one of her main birthday presents.

We would need something that will work without Wi-Fi as I don't want to be reliant on the internet for reading as we won't always have internet when we go away and also, I just see the internet as a potential distraction.

I have zero knowledge about ebooks and would really appreciate any guidance around the options!

Kindle.paperwhite. my dd has has one from a similar age, now 6 years old and still going strong.

My top tip, add books you are interested in to your wish list -more often than not you then get emails with discounts offered.

Kindles are great and you don’t need Wi-Fi to read them, only to download the books in the first place. You can get kindle unlimited for 7.99 a month and read lots of books for “free”. You can have up to 6 at once. You can always find free books on kindle as well, in addition to buying them. I have a kindle paperwhite which has a non glare screen which is designed to look like paper. They’re also waterproof

however other e-readers like kobo allow you to link to a participating library and borrow library books as well as buying books - but where or how you do that I don’t know I’ve never had a kobo!

I would suggest a kobo so that you can download books for free from the local library and other sources rather than being tied to Amazon.

You don't need to have one with mobile internet, you download the books on WiFi and can read offline.

The kobo has a similar glare free screen to the Kindle paperwhite so you can read in the sun, the battery lasts ages too. I love mine, one of the best presents DH ever bought me.

Basic kindle paperwhite is a decent reader but if you want a bit more a kindle fire gives her a basic tablet as well (not as all functioning as an image but maybe provide basic functionality at a budget).
They should allow her to download books to her device so she can load up several books when you go away.

I don't know if you think she's old enough for a smart phone, kids seem to have them when they're barely out the pram these days, but you can download a kindle app for the phone if she has one.

Get her a Kindle. You are not limited to Amazon and can read any epub format book of which there are thousands.

I'd avoid a phone or tablet myself as you're then potentially opening her up to the internet and other things and you don't want to be getting your daughter into all that any sooner than necessary imo, but that's me. The screen is also clearer on a Kindle and the battery life longer. The light from a Kindle is also more natural and has less affect on your sleep.

Certainly I got my daughter who sounds the same as yours a Kindle. She prefers books still, but she's getting to realise that the Kindle can store so much more.

Obviously get her a nice cover. We got ours a cute fox one.

Oh and if you have a non-kindle e-reader it is worth signing up for Google play points, as you can spend your points on books in the play store and then download them to your kobo. The Google store can sometimes be cheaper than the kobo store depending upon offers etc.

If she wants it for reading don’t get her a fire - the screen isn’t specifically designed for reading the way a kindle is

Only the Kindle fire can use epub and that is a basic tablet not a designated e-reader.

I wouldn't recommend a kindle fire for a really keen reader. A proper ebook is worth every penny.

Thanks all. Very helpful advice.

Re-looking at the Kindle's, reading the above comments, would you recommend completely skipping the 'kids' version of the Kindle and going straight to the standard version?

I bought the kindle paperwhite kids for my 10 year old on Prime day, I'd say still with the kids one- it's the same as the adult one functionality wise, it just means her account is linked to yours and you have control over parental settings etc. If she had a standard one, she would need her own amazon account etc if you didn't want her having access to your personal amazon account.

Kids kindle also comes with a 12 month subscription to Kindle Kids unlimited, which is loads of kids books available for free. And with the prime day discount it was cheaper than an adult one, and includes a heavy duty, fun, case. My 7 year old has now asked for one for Christmas as she likes her sisters so much, so I'll be watching out for Black Friday amazon deals to buy her one.

I wouldn't get the basic kindle, but would go for the paperwhite thanks to the better pixel count and the backlight, it also has warm mode which gives the screen a yellow tint so its kinder on your eyes if reading in low light, and it has dark mode which inverts the text and background much like websites do.

Thank you. Great advice all round.

I ended up putting it off as I saw a new one was being released but after her birthday so that's been added to the Xmas list now.