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"Last month our middle school tech class went to Lansing to attend the MACUL ATT Student Showcase. While there, I asked the students to use an iPad to somehow create a project to document what happened on the trip. I gave them a list of suggested apps, but left it open for students to make their own creative choices about the project. Several students used the wonderful Book Creator app to create epub books about the trip. Here are links to two of the books that can be directly downloaded into iBooks on your iPad, iPod, or iPhone. (Note, it will take several minutes for the books to download, then select to open in iBooks.)"

"Question: I'm using an iPad to try and view an eBook created by a student with the Book Creator app. The finished eBook is posted on Posterous.com. It downloaded to my iPad and shows up in the iBooks app, but it won't open. What should I do?"

"Creating an iBooks 2 book with 3D models, Dashcode widgets and interactive Keynote files. Download the sample "Kids Love Bugs" here: http://itunes.apple.com/us/book/dr.-kemps-kids-love-bugs/id497852225"

"Now Apple wants to help users achieve that limitless potential, with the free content-creation application iBooks Author. It aims to revolutionize modern textbooks by bringing interactivity to the learning experience. Not only can you add images to your pages, the reader can zoom in or out of them. You can insert Keynote slides, and embed movies that can be viewed inside a page or full screen. It's even possible to create short quizzes to test your readers' knowledge retention."

"Late last week, Apple announced the launch of a new piece of software, iBooks Author, and a new version of its eBook reader, iBooks 2. It's a development that promises to accelerate the move to interactive eBooks, by radically simplifying their development."

"Apple has set the stage for a textbook revolution with the new iBooks 2 and free iBooks Author software, but as it turns out, that was only the first of the company's plans to unveil in New York City today -- Cupertino is also introducing a new iTunes U app for allowing colleges and universities to share their knowledge with the world."

"What it is: Book Writer is a great app for the iPad (and iPhone or iPod Touch). This app makes it a snap for kids to create books that can be read directly in iBooks. With Book Writer, students can create their own ebooks with photos, video, audio and links. Images and video can be annotated over in the book. Finished books can be shared using iTunes and E-mail. One of the best features of Book Writer is the huge number of applications that books can be shared through including: iBooks, Nook, Instashare, Bump, Evernote, Dropbox, and Send Anywhere. This makes Book Writer wonderfully flexible no matter what apps your school uses regularly."

iPad apps for creating iBooks or eBooks

"During the month of June, I took a hiatus from blogging so that I could do some fun things and perform professional development. The fun things were: Watching my daughter graduate PreK. Watching her win the "Symphony" award. :) Taking both my girls to great places like the beaches and zoos.   The professional development opportunities included: Finishing my free resource iBook titled Help! I am an Elementary Music Teacher with One or more iPads! This book is the second in my Help! Series. These free resource iBooks are books for elementary music educators to use to assist them with integrating technology into their classrooms or teaching situations as well as access to numerous lesson plans. My first book was Help! I am an Elementary Music Teacher with a SMART Board! This new book compliments two courses that I am teaching in the next few weeks."

"In 2014, The Joan Ganz Cooney Center, a research lab focusing on children, digital media, and education published Family Time with Apps: A Guide to Using Apps with Your Kids. (free on iBooks). A Spanish-language edition of the guide, Apps en familia, became available last fall as an iBook and downloadable PDF. The 20-page booklet addresses the educational value of digital media and offers best practice suggestions. Research-based findings on using apps and recommendations on some of the family activities available through them-from creating photo albums to bird watching-are also included. A separate section answers parents' questions and provides resources for locating quality products. Share the guide and some of our Spanish-language and bi-lingual app recommendations for children with the adults who use your library, and if you don't have any Spanish-language apps on your library devices, it's time to begin a collection. The annotations below excerpted from the School Library Journal reviews when available; title links will bring you to the full review, price links to iTunes, Google Play, or Nook downloads. All of the apps listed are available in the United States. Feel free to add the titles of some of your favorites."

"Bookry is an amazing free resource that enables you to create fantastic interactive content to your iBooks. Don't forget to follow us @thebookry and regularly visit our blog for the latest widget updates. Happy authoring! "

"A couple of weeks ago I wrote about using Little Story Maker to create your own short books on your iPad. After publishing that post a bunch of people asked me to review Book Creator too. Book Creator is not a free app ($4.99 as an individual and less with volume purchasing) but I think that it is well worth the money that I spent on it."