There are free Kindle books out there, but you might want to consider the Nook, because you can "borrow" books from the library with it. They have a B&W version that is priced about the same as the Kindle.

I'm getting my GD a Kindle for Christmas! I am so excited and ready to use it myself! lol Anyway, this is what I understand:

yes, there are free books. From what I understand, these are pre-1923 (classics) such as Treasure Island, Gulliver's Travels, etc.

Yes, once you have a download, it is yours - supposedly the Kindle holds 3500 books.

I believe it does show pictures, in black & white.

The difference to note is the $139 one is good if there is wifi in the home. The $189 one includes wifi, so if your GD's home is not equipped with wifi, you need to get this one. I didn't even look at the newest one that's over $300.00. :)

Hope this helps. I wish I knew more and hopefully others will chime in to give their experiences. I think it's a great gift that should last for years.

I didn't know about Nook's borrowing feature. You may want to look at all the online reviews to decide which you think will work best.

Even if you don't have wifi you can connect the Kindle to your computer and download the books that way. I don't have a Kindle (yet), but just bought one for my son, who is teaching in South Korea. I'm not sure if he has wifi or not, but he can connect to the computer. I did get him the one with 3G capability, because he isn't going to be in S. Korea forever. Also, you can download (for free) Kindle reading software onto your computer or smartphone. So if you are reading a book, and forgot to bring it with you you can read on your phone, and the software keeps track of where you are in the story.
My mom got a Kindle for her 80th birthday and she likes it, though I think that she would have preferred a Nook for the library capability. The best thing for those of use who need reading glasses is that you can change the font size and skip the glasses!

I have the Nook and the main reason I bought it over the Kindle is because you can download books from the library for free. I'm not a huge book hoarder, so once I read a book I have no problem returning it to the library.

The digital library doesn't have every book available for check out, but it has a ton of teen and children's books.

Also, it has wifi browser access for checking email, has a Suduku and chess game that are pretty fun.

I'm thinking about getting the color Nook for Christmas - The color is supposed to be amazing and looking a magazines and children's books with pictures are what it's really made for. Also it has a backlight screen so it's easy to read in dim places.

While the Kindle is a great reader, I really think for a child the ability to check out books from the library would be more affordable. Amazon has good prices on books, but the books she's probably going to want to read are in the 7-9 dollar range for each book. The Kindle is propriatory to Amazon, so you can't load other files etc. onto it. The Nook will read any .pdf or ebook you want to read. Just some other thoughts to think about. Kindle is the original ebook reader, but some of the newer readers like the Nook or even the Sony Reader have a much more open architecture and are able to take advantage of reading material not sold by Barnes and Noble exclusively like the Kindle is with Amazon.

I have the Kindle and I love it! As someone stated above, there are free books that you can download that are in the public domain. However, Amazon often offers free books as well as books for 99 cent or a few dollars. Here's the caveat, you just have to make sure that the free books are age appropriate. You can download books straight from the Kindle or from any computer. Just log into Amazon, select the book you want and then download via 1-click. You have to turn the wireless on (just for a minute so the battery doesn't drain) and a minute or so later, the book shows up on the Kindle.

What I would do is surf around Amazon to get a feel for the types of books out there for her age group and then see if there is enough of a selection to warrant purchasing for her.

Good luck!

We got DD (8) the Kindle for xmas . . .she is begging for it. Now I wish we got the Nook for the free books from the library. I think DH was worried about her vision w/the Nook and that is why we did not get it.

I think DH was worried about her vision w/the Nook and that is why we did not get it.

Are you talking about the new color screen Nook or the original B&W version? The screen on the B&W uses the same technology as the Kindle. It is not backlit, so it is easy on the eyes.

The new color screen, since it is backlit.

When I got my kindle it was the only one that had the 3G that came with it. This was a must for me as I only have a very slow dialup, and with the 3G I don't need wifi or 2hours to download a book with the cpu. Just click what I want and there it is in the kindle. I think I would like the Nook best for a kid , I really liked all I read about it and color would be great for kid books.

I think I would take a ride to Best Buy to check the readers out. There were a bunch of different ones in the Sunday flier.

Wow! Bought the Kindle for my DH's 50th birthday! Lucky kids! He travels a lot and it has been great for reading on the plane, etc. He can download any pdf's also. The BW doesn't bother him since he reads the paper and books with it, not magazines like I would! You can download anywhere anytime! And it is yours to keep and at a better price than buying at the bookstore.

I got DH a Nook for Christmas last year and he loves it. He hasn't done free library downloads (we're in the country now, I don't think we even have a library!), but he did spend something like $5 or $10 on ebay and got hundreds of the public domain titles. These are a lot of the old standards, some great books (Moby Dick, etc.).

Make sure you get a good cover/case for it.

Thanks, guys, for all your insights as to the pros and cons of the Kindle and Nook. Looks like I've got a little more research to do on this before I order. But this info from you all was exactly what I was looking for. Thanks so much.

The reason I said to check best buy is that there was one for $120 that's color; it's called the Literati wifi LCD ereader; also has a keyboard.

Walmart has a color reader for $99.87