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 kitten 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 mom shopped.
My ten-year-old grandson, an avid reader, professes no preference for pbooks or eBooks. However, his eleven-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 US children ages two to thirteen are reading e-books. 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, pairs of parents and children (ages three to six) read a print book and an enhanced or basic e-book together. Interestingly, the print book and the basic eBook had the same results in terms of story discussion, while those who were reading the enhanced eBook spent more time talking about the device.
When parent-child pairs read enhanced e-books, children remembered less of the story than when the print version was read. This naturally leads to the conclusion that basic and print e-books are better for reading comprehension.
But not all enhanced e-books are the same. The ones with cartoons and other such 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, 9 percent of their gaze is focused on the copy versus 91 percent on the images. When the e-book is read to a child by the word highlight app, 41 percent of their gaze is focused on the text versus 59 percent on the images.”
My opinion on the subject? Cuddle your child with a basic print book or e-book. When you’re busy, or if your child needs to develop their word decoding skills, choose the e-book with word highlighting. And for entertainment, opt for the eBook enhanced with bells and whistles.