My daughter is just starting to read, so we've transitioned from some of the great books we love to share to books with vocabulary and sentence structure that suit her ability. She will rave about a book, and my husband will complain that it's "boring." But that's part of the process … simple and repetitious. So we sprinkle in some of the family favorites with the learning-to-read titles to keep it fun for everyone.
How do you see the future of children’s books now that electronic and print-on-demand publishing are becoming increasingly popular?
I have mixed emotions. On the one hand, I think they offer parents an educational alternative to television and computer games. On the other hand, though, it is yet another format that sits a child in front of a screen. Like TV, sitting at the computer could become a babysitter that absorbs lots of time and doesn't encourage human contact. The average kindergartener has spent more than 5,000 hours in front of a TV! That's a lot of "screen time."
We have received and reviewed a number of electronic books. Some are CDs that you listen to in the car or on your home stereo. Others are DVDs. Some are books with virtual pages that you click with a mouse and require someone to read the screen. We have received some DVD stories that include audio (i.e., there is a reader and moving highlights to point out words as it reads). We have also gotten multi-media products that offer the story, as well as additional educational material.
The multi-media products are my favorite, because I think they engage a child more than just a book. They also don't require my 100% participation for reading the book and give the child a sense of independence in their reading.
Are ebooks and POD books popular with your readers?
Actually, I have found eBooks hard to place with families. Most of our reviewers like/want the experience of sharing the book with their child. Unless you have a laptop, when you read a book on the computer, you need a desk and enough space for two chairs. It's not quite the same cozy experience.
We were reading an eBook on the computer recently and my daughter complained that it was just like watching TV. She tends to like the eBooks that are CDs that she can put in her little Boombox. She will listen and re-listen to those stories for hours. I like that. She gets the benefit of reading by learning words and language, but she also has to use her imagination to visualize the characters and events.
Article comments
1 - Cathy Puett Miller
I loved this blog interview - especially the parts about how important it is for parents to read with their children and the plug for the Reading Tub, a worthy organization. Keep up the good work.