Middletown High School students now have the opportunity to rent Kindles in the library and avoid carrying heavy books.
“Students were able to borrow Kindles at just a few high schools last year,” said MHS Media Specialist Rebecca Reickel. MHS administrators wanted to offer this opportunity to their students and purchased five Kindles paid by the instructional budget. Reickel cannot remember the exact price but states they were “around $150 per e-book.”
Borrowing an e-book is not difficult. “Students can borrow a Kindle just like they would borrow a book,” Reickel said. This means that the students can keep a Kindle for three weeks and are also allowed to take them home.
Reickel added that Frederick County Public Schools has a lot of digital books available for students, including many contemporary titles. “If there is a brand new title that students are eager to read right away, sometimes I will buy a title specifically for Kindle,” she said.
Reickel added that students are responsible for the Kindles and should “be careful with them.” Students should remember taht the Kindles are used for reading books – not for games or surfing the internet.
MHS students reacted positively to the new Kindles and the opportunity offered to them. “E-books are easy to use and on hand,” said MHS freshman Morgan Runyan.
McCauley Brown, MHS sophomore, added that everybody using an e-book can easily access thousands of books on a small portable device instead of carrying heavy books.
“Sometimes books are large, especially school books that are old with pages are falling out,” said MHS English teacher Daria Baldovin-Jahrling.
MHS principal Lee Jeffrey also supports the advantages of an e-book. “I think that they provide a lot of other features that are integrated in what you’re reading and they make it a more entertaining experience for the reader,” she said.
On the other hand, e-books also have some disadvantages. The reader has to be very careful with and e-book because “it might get damaged and then you couldn’t be able to read,” said MHS junior Payton Cavanagh.
MHS senior Josh Moore sees another problem. E-books “lose power during reading,” he said.
It is also well-known that reading off a screen may damage your eyes.
Despite the disadvantages, most MHS students prefer an e-book or their phones in order to read books. Cavanagh said she likes e-books because “I can carry more books around that I enjoy.”
“I would rather get a book on my phone because it’s easier to get to,” added MHS senior Erin MacMullen.
“There is something special about a book,” said Baldovin-Jahrling. “I like the feel of a book, I like turning the pages and I like the smell of a book.”
