The original ipicturebooks light-bulb logo

The ipicturebooks Story

One of the first homes for children’s ebooks, launched in 2001.

ipicturebooks.com went live on February 8, 2001, with a simple idea that was new at the time: take the best illustrated children’s books and make them available to read on a home or school computer. It was founded by the electronic-publishing pioneer Byron Preiss and built for parents, children, teachers and librarians, with books for ages six months to ten years.

Four days after launch, Time Warner Trade Publishing announced it had taken a majority stake in the company, to sit alongside its iPublish.com venture. The early list ran to more than a hundred books, including the complete Bank Street Ready-to-Read series, Jane Goodall’s Animal World, and the Millbrook Real Kids Readers. Out-of-print favorites were brought back in digital form. Schools and libraries could license the whole collection.

The ipicturebooks.com home page in 2001
The ipicturebooks.com home page, 2001: books sorted by age, with a free ebook of the month.
The ages 5 to 7 page of ipicturebooks.com in 2001
The “Ages 5–7” page, featuring Jane Goodall’s Animal World and the Bank Street and Real Kids readers.

From the 2001 list, still in print

Cover of Good News

Good News

by Barbara Brenner, Kate Duke

Bank Street Ready-To-Read, Level 1 · 34 pages · ISBN 9781876965150

Cover of Annie's Pet

Annie's Pet

by Barbara Brenner, Jack Ziegler

Bank Street Ready-To-Read, Level 2 · 36 pages · ISBN 9781876965600

Cover of Beaver's Beware

Beaver's Beware

by Barbara Brenner, Emily Arnold McCully

Bank Street Ready-To-Read, Level 2 · 34 pages · ISBN 9781876965624

Cover of Button Soup

Button Soup

by Doris Orgel, Pau Estrada

Bank Street Ready-To-Read, Level 2 · 34 pages · ISBN 9781876965631

Cover of Choco-Louie

Choco-Louie

by Jeff Kindley, Ellen Joy Sasaki

Bank Street Ready-To-Read, Level 2 · 34 pages · ISBN 9781876965655

Cover of Could It Be?

Could It Be?

by Joanne Oppenheim, S. D. Schindler

Bank Street Ready-To-Read, Level 2 · 34 pages · ISBN 9781876965693

Cover of Moon Boy

Moon Boy

by Barbara Brenner, J. Gaban

Bank Street Ready-To-Read, Level 2 · 34 pages · ISBN 9781876965730

Cover of The Fight

The Fight

by Betty Boegehold, Robin Oz

Bank Street Ready-To-Read, Level 2 · 34 pages · ISBN 9781876965785

Cover of Too Many Mice

Too Many Mice

by Barbara Brenner, John Emil Cymerman

Bank Street Ready-To-Read, Level 2 · 28 pages · ISBN 9781876965921

Cover of Lion and Lamb

Lion and Lamb

by Barbara Brenner & William H. Hooks, Bruce Degen

Bank Street Ready-To-Read, Level 3 · 50 pages · ISBN 9781876965969

Cover of Peach Boy

Peach Boy

by William H. Hooks, June Otani

Bank Street Ready-To-Read, Level 3 · 50 pages · ISBN 9781876966157