The Merits of Reading Real Books to Your Children

[rhadin]

Strikes me that with all of the more important things to be discussed -- such as whether it is better to have a child read to by a parent or by Siri (the voice) or whether it is better to invest money in teaching reading to infants or in buying them food -- the question of whether "real book" is appropriate or not when speaking of print versions is a waste of time, effort, and breath.

It is making the surface paramount over what lies beneath and draws away from consideration of what is truly important for what is truly unimportant.

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by rhadin

It is making the surface paramount over what lies beneath and draws away from consideration of what is truly important for what is truly unimportant.

But nothing lies beneath. Regardless of whether the "real books" comment is an intentional slight (which brings the article-writer's objectivity into question), or an unintentional slip-up (which brings the article-writer's competence into question), the fact remains that the article has provided zero proof that reading to children from vinyl, book-like toys (which double as teething rings and frisbees) promotes literacy any better than reading to children from a tablet/ereader, or phone will.

It's just another attempt to inculcate a "real readers prefer real books" mentality in the next generation of readers.

Reading to children promotes literacy in children. Period.

[Sweetpea]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

Besides ... the world produced scads of literate, intelligent people for centuries before book-shaped pacifiers and toys started being sold for children to slobber on. I'm simply not buying the premise of the article. Don't get me wrong; I think promoting literacy is a very admirable thing. I just don't think giving book-shaped toys to children too young to understand the concept of being read to (let alone reading) plays much of a "real" role in promoting literacy.

I only think that a book you read together with a child of that age should be large, colourful, full of pictures, sturdy and easy to hold with said child on your lap. Often that doesn't go together with an electronic device and paper books are the way to go. But beyond that, a book is a book is a book. As long as a child reads, absorbs strange new ideas, starts building his vocabulary, who cares what format it is in?

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by Sweetpea

But beyond that, a book is a book is a book. As long as a child reads, absorbs strange new ideas, starts building his vocabulary, who cares what format it is in?

I'm with you there.

[Cinisajoy]

Originally Posted by Sweetpea

I only think that a book you read together with a child of that age should be large, colourful, full of pictures, sturdy and easy to hold with said child on your lap. Often that doesn't go together with an electronic device and paper books are the way to go. But beyond that, a book is a book is a book. As long as a child reads, absorbs strange new ideas, starts building his vocabulary, who cares what format it is in?

Have I said I love you lately.
And I agree Curious George, Put me in the zoo and all the Dr. Seuss books would lose a lot on an ereader.
A tablet wouldn't be quite so bad.

[theducks]

Originally Posted by Sweetpea

I only think that a book you read together with a child of that age should be large, colourful, full of pictures, sturdy and easy to hold with said child on your lap. Often that doesn't go together with an electronic device and paper books are the way to go. But beyond that, a book is a book is a book. As long as a child reads, absorbs strange new ideas, starts building his vocabulary, who cares what format it is in?

I have little experience with Siri , but I doubt recorded (any form) books can provide the home cultural performance that a parent would. Sounds effects, pointing out aspects (pseudo side notes) of the passage or images.

Your family culture Does influence the reading.

[ekbell]

Originally Posted by rkomar

I can both acknowledge that the usage of the word "book" has changed while protesting that change itself. I don't like that the word has less meaning now than it used to; it seems to be a step backwards. Again, I'll bring up the example of a bound volume with four novels in it. Is it one book or four? It's hard to say with the new usage, but crystal clear with the old. Something has been lost.

The term that comes to my mind when referring to bound volumes is codex (plural codices). It was after all the term used to distinguish such books from scrolls. I admit that it would likely be confusing in ordinary conversation.

In my day-to-day life I find that terms such as board book, paperback, hardcover or ebook are perfectly adequate when I need to distinguish between different forms.

As for the case of four novels bound together .... that's why the term omnibus exists

My personal pet peeve is the use of the term 'box set' when referring to an ebook omnibus. Why use a term referring to a particular physical setup when the terms collection and omnibus exist?

Going back to the original conversation, my four year old doesn't particularly see the difference between having picture ebooks read to her from my tablet or having me read paper picture books (other then the fact that my tablet is always around while the paper books can be lost). On the other hand I was much happier allowing her to tote around board books when she was at the chewing and flinging stage and I still prefer her to be using paper books when by herself. And some picture books really don't work well in small scale.

[theducks]

Originally Posted by ekbell

My personal pet peeve is the use of the term 'box set' when referring to an ebook omnibus. Why use a term referring to a particular physical setup when the terms collection and omnibus exist?

The Boxed sets I have run across are NOT omnibus (editions). They are a collection of Novels with a theme. In this usage "boxed set" is a group of books bundled, usually sold for less than the individual price.
A great example of a (monthly) bundle is the ones from Baen

[MikeB1972]

Originally Posted by Cinisajoy

Next question if you do not think either ebooks or papyrus are books then what would you call them?
Strange since the ancients wrote books on papyrus.

A scroll (The papyrus, not the ebook). Technically rkomar is correct, it only becomes a book when bound together.

However, language changes so words tend to mean whatever the majority think they mean. Nobody now would use the word "nice" to mean "simple" and "awful" no longer means "worthy of awe".

Could have called them eNovels, would have saved arguments.

[Larken]

It sounds to me like the big difference between a "real", laminated board book and a children's book being displayed on an e-ink device is droolability and chewability. Perhaps Kobo should see it as a new need to be filled and make a rugged, chewable (maybe in various flavors), and drool proof child's Kobo reader! They can 1-up Amazon in this new frontier!

On a serious note, I have a 6 year old and a 4 year old that are very different. The first one was not orally fixated at all. He never used a pacifier. He did chew his crib a couple times while teething. The four year old is opposite. He has and will put about anything in his mouth. Also likes licking windows, car doors, people, dogs, etc. Both had board books and both have read on my Kobo or used the Kobo app on their iPads. Both are working on sight words with the excellent sight word books available in the Kobo store.

[SleepyBob]

Originally Posted by rkomar

I've also been trying hard to explain why saying that something isn't a "real book" isn't an insult, but it's falling on deaf ears. So be it, be insulted then. I'm giving up trying to keep you from that.

That's sort of like saying, "I keep explaining why it's not an insult when I call them *****s, but they insist on being insulted by it anyway."


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Silly arguments about "real" books aside, I think one of the real benefits of physical books is the empowerment they give the child in the discovery process.

Unlike DiapDealer, pre-readers and early readers don't read reviews to select their next book - they look at the covers. When I take my daughter to the library, there's about a 50/50 chance that the book she picks will be one of the books on display and not one that is catalogued and shelved neatly, despite there being 20 times as many books to pick from on the shelf.

With physical books, a child of any ability can find a book on a shelf, go over to Mom or Dad and say "read this". That's much more natural than getting Mom's iPad, typing in her password (), navigating to the kindle app and scrolling through the covers to find the one they want. Ebooks have a noticeable friction that physical books don't, which is easy for adults and strong readers to overcome, but much less so for younger children.

[Katsunami]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

Again with the whole "Real" thing?

LOL. Indeed. If an e-book wasn't a real book, then a video game wouldn't be a real game...

Originally Posted by SleepyBob

With physical books, a child of any ability can find a book on a shelf, go over to Mom or Dad and say "read this". That's much more natural than getting Mom's iPad, typing in her password (), navigating to the kindle app and scrolling through the covers to find the one they want. Ebooks have a noticeable friction that physical books don't, which is easy for adults and strong readers to overcome, but much less so for younger children.

Same goes for older people.

How would you listen to music in 'the old days' (before 2000)?

Go to a shop. Pick up an LP/CD, pay for it and go home.
Put the album into your player. Press "Play" and listen.

Now try that digitally. You'll have to make sure your player can play the file format, is compatible with DRM used (if any), you'll have to buy, download, store, organize and backup the files... etc.

Listening to music digitally (or reading books, or watching movies, anything...) has become a LOT more complex to understand for people who haven't grown up with using computers from childhood.

[jhowell]

Originally Posted by Katsunami

Now try that digitally. You'll have to make sure your player can play the file format, is compatible with DRM used (if any), you'll have to buy, download, store, organize and backup the files... etc.

That's why most people use a soup-to-nuts ecosystem, like Apple Music or Amazon Kindle. Find, buy, consume with minimal effort.

[shalym]

Originally Posted by Katsunami

LOL. Indeed. If an e-book wasn't a real book, then a video game wouldn't be a real game...



Same goes for older people.

How would you listen to music in 'the old days' (before 2000)?

Go to a shop. Pick up an LP/CD, pay for it and go home.
Put the album into your player. Press "Play" and listen.

Now try that digitally. You'll have to make sure your player can play the file format, is compatible with DRM used (if any), you'll have to buy, download, store, organize and backup the files... etc.

Listening to music digitally (or reading books, or watching movies, anything...) has become a LOT more complex to understand for people who haven't grown up with using computers from childhood.

Yes...that's how I *bought* music in 'the old days', but that's definitely NOT how I found music. In 'the old days', I found music mostly by listening to the radio. There were a couple of local bands that I listened to, but for the most part, they didn't have music I could buy--if I wanted to listen to their music I had to either go to a live show or find a recording of one of their shows on cassette tape.

I still mostly listen to the radio if I'm in the car. If I'm at home, I use my Echo, or I use YouTube.

For me, at least, music is MUCH less complex now than it was 'in the old days'

Now...to bring it back to books. In 'the old days', I had to get in my car (or get a ride) to the store or the library and hope that they had something that I wanted to read. Now, I can buy books at 2:00 in the morning in my pajamas. (I actually did that last weekend).

I'm much more likely to find something that I want to read, because I have a much larger pool of books to choose from.

Again...much less complex.

Shari

[Katsunami]

Originally Posted by shalym

Again...much less complex.
Shari

IF you know how it works. 81-y/o grandma would rather wait until the next day, phone / go to the local bookstore to see if there's a book she'd want, and the go have it ordered or pick it up.