Children’s e-books: good news, bad news, or both?
I have fond memories of my mother reading me stories of Angus, the little Scotsman whose sun square was stolen by the infamous cat, and Peter Minnie Mouser May, after whom my beloved kitty was named.
And what exactly do electronic reading devices have to do with these happy memories?
Absolutely nothing.
They also have no connection to the fun I had reading science fiction at the Bay while my mother did her shopping.
My ten-year-old grandson, an avid reader, has no preference for pbooks or eBooks. However, his 11-year-old cousin claims that e-books are “easier to read.”
One thing is for sure, children’s e-books are here to stay. According to Jeremy Greenfield of Digital Book World, 67% of American children ages two to thirteen are reading eBooks. BookNet Canada predicts an increase in e-reading, with parents reporting an average of 6.4 devices per household.
So what do the experts think about this?
In a study cited in Publishers Weekly, parent-child pairs (ages three to six) read a print book and an enhanced or basic e-book together. Interestingly, the print book and the basic eBook returned the same results in terms of story discussion, while those reading the enhanced eBook spent more time talking about the device.
When the parent-child pairs read the enhanced eBooks, the children remembered less of the story than when the print version was read. This naturally leads to the conclusion that basic and print eBooks are better for reading comprehension.
But not all Enhanced eBooks are the same. The ones with cartoons and other similar features will, of course, distract children from reading, but how does it work to listen to the story with each word highlighted as it is read?
An interesting study cited by LookTracker.com found that “When a caregiver reads an e-book to a child, nine percent of their gaze is focused on the copy versus 91 percent on the images. When the e-book is read to For a child by the word highlighting app, 41 percent of their gaze is focused on text versus 59 percent on images.”
My opinion on the subject? Cuddle up your child with a print book or basic eBook. When you’re busy, or if your child needs to build their word decoding skills, choose the word highlighting eBook. And for entertainment, opt for the eBook enhanced with bells and whistles.
