Are Children's Books Doomed?

[Giggleton]

Originally Posted by LovesMacs

I don't think printed children books will be doomed until they develop tablets/ereaders that can be dropped, spilled upon, stepped on or thrown and still work.

Those will be available shortly...

Plain text has been around for around 5000 years, which is a goodly length of time to allow us to believe it will be around for some time into the future.

[wyndslash]

Originally Posted by spindlegirl

That would be terrible, but children's books I find are best with paper. My children inherited my husband's and my love for the library and picking out books. Literature has been a huge part of their early childhood and still is. I cannot see an identical history if it had been apps on a screen. (although computers also have been a big part too, with my husband being a computer geek)

There's something intimate and special about a child sitting on a parent's knee and pointing to their favorite pictures as the parent reads aloud....

there's just something special about a children's book. i remember once, my sister promised me a book if i stayed home (i fell for that one easily), and she gave me a beautiful, hardbound book, and the paper was gorgeous and the colors vivid. i still have that book.

[HomeInMyShoes]

I read paper books to my almost two and a half year old every day before bedtime. I buy about one new book every two weeks for him and usually have another twenty on loan from the library. We'll read one story three times in a row or he'll say no to a few selections before I find what he's looking for. I usually have him pick out some as well each night.

I have as much fun finding books for him as books for me.

[Xoanon]

Interactive books, eh? That takes me back a few years. I remember playing the Lone Wolf and Fighting Fantasy books back in the 80's.

[mbovenka]

Originally Posted by petrucci

Reading is still the best method to acquire large amounts of information quickly. Unfortunately, if children do not get started reading at an early age, then they may not develop the skill to read quickly. Thus, I feel that the loss of children's books would be a terrible thing.

The very idea horrifies me.

[carpetmojo]

Here in the UK we have embraced Ikea and a lot else Scandanavia-ish , among them the excellent TV series imported from Sweden and Denmark - not aware of anything Finnish or Norwegian, but they'll come, I'm sure.
It really started, I think, with an adaptation of Henning Mankell's Kurt Wallender series - with a not altogether convincing Kenneth Branagh in the lead ; it seemed more about Branagh than Wallender in a way, I thought. When we got the original series things were much improved.

We've now had the Killing (2 series)/Danish, (more to come), The Bridge/Danish-Swedish (1 series on now, another to come), and Borgen/Danish (one series, more to come), all achieving major viewings/ratings.

My point, at last (!), is that they are all sub-titled, and frankly, we've enjoyed them immensely, and found that old myth about sub-titles spoiling things has been shattered. Now I've "got" the technique, I watch sub-ed films with relish.
So the idea of doing them for children's stuff holds no harbingers of doom as far as this family is concerned.

[Ninjalawyer]

I don't see this as much of a problem. I've never tried a children's storybook app, but I'm assuming they have quite a bit of text. And it's obvious from the comments in this thread that there are a lot of new options for parents; children's books were only ever as good as the parents reading them to their kids.

My parents read to me when I was a kid, but I think the biggest impact on my ability to read was Sierra adventure games with text parsers.

[ProfCrash]

One of my baby shower was book themed. Everyone was asked to bring their favorite book from childhood so I could have a copy to read to my baby boy when he arrives. I actually made my Sister-in-Law hold on to two large boxes of kids books for the last few years because they had such a great collection and I wanted them for my kids.

I have every intention of reading books to my kids on a very regular basis. It drives me a bit nuts that my 18 month old nephew is already into Toy Story and Cars as movies. He is 18 months. I can kind of see some of the public television shows but I think it is far too early to be putting a kid in front of a TV or IPad. Then again, this is my first child and who knows what I will end up doing.

[stonetools]

One thing I see here is that while parents love the idea of reading books to kids, the kids themselves are gravitating to screens and apps as soon as they can figure out how to interact with touch screens ( as early as two years old according to numerous You Tube videos).
My brother bought my nephews IPod touches because the 8 year old wanted one and the 6 year old didn't want to be left out.
Another thing is the economics of it. The cost of creating apps is cheaper than the cost of creating a children's book, according to the peice.

[ScalyFreak]

Originally Posted by stonetools

One thing I see here is that while parents love the idea of reading books to kids, the kids themselves are gravitating to screens and apps as soon as they can figure out how to interact with touch screens ( as early as two years old according to numerous You Tube videos).

This shouldn't surprise anyone. Interacting with pictures on a touchscreen is easy to learn and well within the mental and physical abilities of a small child. It's fun, instantly gratifying, and pretty shiny colors that move around.

The allure of having mom or dad read to you is entirely different. I learned to read sitting on my bed, curled up against one of my parents, staring at the pages in the book that they were reading to me. It was our evening ritual before I went to bed, and they did the same thing with my siblings. And trust me, it wasn't the reading itself that made the ritual important and rewarding. It was the relaxing comfort of snuggling mom or dad, while I drifted off to sleep. Listening to soothing music would have worked just as well.

Long-winded way of saying that parents who want their children to read need to read to them, and make the reading a pleasant experience that the children look forward to. Tablets are inherently fun, making books and reading fun takes a bit more work.

[ProfCrash]

Yup, it is the time with the parents that matters most. It also shows the child that reading is important and something to take time out of your day to do.

[taosaur]

I don't have kids, but I've read both p and e varieties to friends' and relations' little ones, and the experience really is about the same. The ebooks were just books, not app-ified in any way, but the only significant difference was the way we'd turn the page.

That said, I suspect kids' pbooks will hold out longer than paper novels, just because children's books have much more varied and distinctive formatting that won't be easy to adapt or standardize. It's a similar issue to the challenges of taking textbooks electronic, but with even more varied and less flexible content.

[ScalyFreak]

Originally Posted by taosaur

That said, I suspect kids' pbooks will hold out longer than paper novels, just because children's books have much more varied and distinctive formatting that won't be easy to adapt or standardize. It's a similar issue to the challenges of taking textbooks electronic, but with even more varied and less flexible content.

And no pop-up ability!

[bill_mchale]

I have a two year old (well almost a three year old), who I generally read to every night before bed. Occasionally, when we are away from home we will be in a situation where there are no books available. As a result I have used the iStory app on my smartphone (I turn off the read aloud feature and I read the stories). When we are at home, or the houses of his grandparents, he never asks for me to read one of the iStory stories, he wants his books.

Mind you he is not techno shy either, he loves videos on the computer... but I think he loves being able to touch the books.

I think kids books will be around for a while still.

--
Bill

[5thWiggle]

Originally Posted by ProfCrash

One of my baby shower was book themed. Everyone was asked to bring their favorite book from childhood so I could have a copy to read to my baby boy when he arrives. I actually made my Sister-in-Law hold on to two large boxes of kids books for the last few years because they had such a great collection and I wanted them for my kids.

I have every intention of reading books to my kids on a very regular basis. It drives me a bit nuts that my 18 month old nephew is already into Toy Story and Cars as movies. He is 18 months. I can kind of see some of the public television shows but I think it is far too early to be putting a kid in front of a TV or IPad. Then again, this is my first child and who knows what I will end up doing.

If any are popup books, invest heavily in tape and glue. I've lost count of the times I've fixed "Tickle the Pig". However spit (and other body fluids) easily wipe off a screen...

Books and technology can be balanced IMO (though I only have my twins to go by). We read to them, and later allowed them on the computer (Reader Rabbit and MathBlaster )and ipods. They had the Leapfrog cartridge systems given to them along hundreds of paperbooks (thank goodness for Ikea Billy bookcases, because they refuse to give any away). By first grade, they read with a third grade comprehension. They are now in second grade with fifth grade reading skill (math is right up there too).

BTW, SkippyJon Jones is a great series to read to your kids. Just brush up on your best Spanish Chihauhau voice and learn to Rumba.