Students come to peer over my shoulder and see what books are on my Kindle Fire. Sometimes I’m willing to show them, sometimes I’m not. Many of my Kindle ebook titles are lendable. I obtain many to share with students and my new grandchildren. However…, I have some titles that are for adult eyes only. During the day, I keep those in the Cloud and download them in the privacy of my home.

While discussing this with some former students of mine who are now in high school, we were able to talk about the need for privacy in reading choices. We agreed that digital downloading ebooks made it easier to obtain books that they didn’t want their friends to read. I used this as an opportunity to talk about ALA’s Choose Privacy week.

One example of a title I didn’t want everyone to know I was reading was

The Founding Fathers: American Legends by Charles River Editors. I love history and reading about heroes and legends. I discovered this title through a service called PIXEL OF INK. I am loving my emails from Pixel of Ink. Every day they email me titles that are temporarily available for free downloading from the Amazon store for my kindle. I specified that I wanted to receive their adult fiction, and their young edition. Here’s the description they provided for  The Founding Fathers: American Legends.

The Founding Fathers have held a special place in American society since the nation gained its freedom, and many of them had become national heroes even before then. Over 200 years later, Americans still look with reverence to these men, often debating with each other what the Founding Fathers would think about a certain issue, or how they would judge a certain law or legislation. In many respects, these men have become icons, whose words, thoughts and deeds are rarely questioned.

Like all legends, the staggering accomplishments of the Founding Fathers not only earned them monuments and memorials but helped enshrine their legacies, to the point that they are looked at almost as demigods above reproach. The Founding Fathers examines all of the colossal events and actions these men took, but it also analyzes what these men were really like, and how their personalities and passions helped shape the destiny of the country they founded and led.

Another title that has totally fascinated me has been Chemistry for Everyone by Suzanne Lahl and illustrated by  Cris Qualiana. In high school, I loved chemistry taught by Mrs. Pope. I found chemistry finally made mathematics useful and interesting. I was also thrilled to have a female science teacher and admired her greatly. When my #1 son decided to take Chemistry and Advanced Chemistry in high school, I was so thrilled to be able to share this love of science with him. Imagine my surprise when I saw just how far the field had gone since my studies 20 years earlier. His textbook resembled the college textbooks  I drooled over in the college bookstore