Should children tip their hats to a digital Dr. Seuss?

[Alexander Turcic]

Originally Posted by pl001

Actually most Dr. Seuss books are NOT board books. I can tell you that from my aquired expertise in taping the pages of many of them back together.

I am not sure about all the Dr. Seuss book our daughter has, but the ones she has are definitely board books. See attached image.

[Alexander Turcic]

Oops this Fox in Socks was not a board book.

[medgirl2001]

There are several Dr. Seuss books that have been out as iPad apps for quite some time. Overall, I think they are well-done. They have the original text and illustrations, but they also have the option to have the book read aloud. You can also tap the words and have them highlighted and spoken, with animation of the word that feels in keeping with the Dr. Seuss style. There aren't a lot of bells and whistles - some sound effects, a little bit of animation - so they feel more like an interactive book than an Angry Birds competitor.

[pl001]

Originally Posted by Alexander Turcic

I am not sure about all the Dr. Seuss book our daughter has, but the ones she has are definitely board books. See attached image.

I should have said the classic ones we usually associate with Dr. Seuss are typically not board books, although sometimes a board version can be found. Cat in the Hat, Green Eggs and Ham, Grinch, Lorax, Horton, ABCs, etc. At least that's been my experience.

[alicepattinson]

I'd say NO. definitely no

[doctorow]

Nothing wrong in digitalizing the content. It's up to the parent to decide when is the best time to introduce their child to electronic devices. I prefer to keep my children away from them for as long as possible.

[shalym]

Originally Posted by ProfCrash

There are board books for Dr Seuss. They are mainly the younger beginner books like Hop on Pop and not Green Eggs and Ham, the Cat and the Hat and the like. Most kids don't get into those until they are closer to four or a bit older.

Board books for the 6 month to 2 year old crowd are suppose to have big pictures and few words. We violate the few words rule with many of the books but that is ok. Most of the wordier ones we read once and then spend a lot of time flipping through the pages, pointing at pictures, and giggling. You add more words as the kid is ready for them and has the attention span to listen to them. That will vary from kid to kid.

I understand what you're saying about the board books--I always had those for my kids. But...from the time they were born I read to them from other books. Shel Silverstein, Dr.Seuss, Maurice Sendak...and I was sometimes known to read aloud from whatever novel I was reading while I was sitting with an infant trying to get them to sleep. My children always knew which books were theirs, and which books were mine (or another bigger person) For Board books, we would read them together a few times, and then they would "read" them back to me, or to the cat, or to anyone who would sit still for long enough. (even before they could form real words) I have a picture of my daughter sitting with the cat, "reading" a story to it, from when she was about 11 months old.

So yes...to summarize, in my opinion, board books (and cloth books) are great, and very important for small children, but even infants can and do benefit from Dr. Seuss and any other stories...and it doesn't matter what format they are in.

Shari

[ProfCrash]

Agreed. DB has heard some of Mom's stories, read from an iPad. And he loves to read on his own, he picks up a book and flips through it pointing at stuff. He really loves it when someone is sitting on a couch so he can bring the book over and flip through it with them.

We are working hard to limit his screen time. I know it is impossible to prevent him from seeing any screens but we try to limit it to sporting events. No movies or kids tv shows. Occassional drawing app on the iPad or animal app on the iPad. I am sure there will be e-books in his future, like when we fly out to visit my parents, but I have no problem limiting them.

[simplyparticular]

We already owned several of the Dr Suess and P.D Eastman books, both in board book form and in the laminated hardbooks that have been used for decades. I can attest that they still fall apart, get ripped, chewed and dunked - they are not indestructible.

And I still bought a few other titles in digital. My youngest and I like to snuggle in the covers with the lights turned off at story time. Reading from my iPad with the brightness down is generally the last story we read.

No, I rarely hand off the iPad for my kids to read from - I read to them, even though my oldest can read to herself (and has her own Sony). she actually requested bed time reading after a few months of wanting to read by herself.

So I don't have a problem stocking my tablet with kids reading material.

[QuantumIguana]

It would be an option, but I would stick with paper books for such books. These are books that kids will read over and over and over. Simple to use, and nothing to break, so you can let kids have them whenever they want.

[speakingtohe]

I learned to read sitting on my grandmother's lap while she read from a giant(to me at the time) book of nursery rhymes. I can actually hear her say Who killed Cock Robin in my head 60 years later. By the time I was four I could read pretty well all of the children's newspaper supplement of the Toronto Star weekly.

My parents read to me when time and patience permitted, but I could not see the words as I was in bed and the reader was on a chair.

I think ebook applications that read aloud but show the text at the same time would be good for those parents that have no time or inclination to read aloud but would of course lack the intimacy and attention that a child gets from being read aloud to.

I was very lucky in that I got both from my grandmother.

Helen

[GoSharks]

Honestly, I don't care what media the books are 'written' on as long as they inspire a love of reading...If they want to go back to clay tablets, fine by me! Whatever it takes.

[wizwor]

When my kids were small, there were interactive stories called Living Books. Each page resembled the page of a traditional book, but the page could be read, listened to, or interacted with. When the story was read to the child, each word was highlighted. I won't credit these books for my children's passion for reading, but they did not hurt and I would love to see all the Seuss books presented this way.

[cfrizz]

To this day I love Green Eggs & Ham!

[Barty]

I think middle class Western children will be exposed to plenty of electronics. No need to worry about that. They will live a significant of their lives in front of screens, regardless. You need to balance it out with some books and physical object they can touch, feel, manipulate.