You Can Now Doodle over Google eBooks

Many people feel they lost some things with the transition from printed books to digital ones, but Google is working on recovering at least some of those. One way it's doing this is with the new doodle mode which is available for some of the titles in its eBookstore.

"As the young (and young at heart) know, books aren't simply meant to be read - sometimes they're meant to be marked up, colored in and scribbled all over," Diego Puppin and Derek Lei, Google Books software engineers, wrote.

"Up until now, however, you couldn't really do that with digital books. Today, we're introducing Doodle Mode for a select group of Google eBooks. Take a virtual crayon to these digital books and go wild: draw pictures and diagrams, connect the dots, or underline words," they added.

The feature doesn't work for all books, it's designed mainly for children's books, in particular those that have been created with drawing in mind. This is why Google is launching the feature with support from the "The Everything Kids" series.

You can buy any of the books listed by Google, from the series, and the doodle mode is then available via the Web Reader. You'll then notice a new button in the top toolbar dubbed Doodle Mode.

This will then allow you to use the colored crayons available. Google notes that the feature works on both desktops and the iPad which will be much more appreciated by kids who already love the Apple tablet.

Doodles are not saved, so you get a clean page every time you revisit it, meaning that you can draw over and over again. If you do come up with a particularly nice looking drawing, your only option is to take a screenshot of it.