childrens ebooks

[loopeylisie]

Hello,

I am going to invest in an ereader and I was wondering whether there are young childrens ebooks available and if so how well do they translate onto ereaders? For two reasons, 1, I want to encourage my daughter to read and I think it helps for to see me reading and as she's only dinky she won't understand the ereader unless I am able to show her books on it in a format she understands (ie lots of images); 2, when out and about I will hopefully be able to have several books on hand to read to her (instead of having to lug them around as they tend to be bulky). I know the experience won't be the same as childrens books tend to tactile, large and colourful and on an ereader these elements will be lost, but at least it will help her to comprehend that mummy is reading books on this device and so encourage her interest in books (which admittedly she already loves mummy is VERY proud).

If anyone has experience with this please let me know.

Thanks,

Lisa

[rakulos]

Have to say my kids prefer print - large text, colour and they can handle them roughly with no risk.
I've got an iPad - and to be honest - it's simply too much of a distraction for them, they just want to play the games on it or play around with touch screen features. I'm not sure how much they'd be into an eInk reader either as they are still too young to not want pictures.
For a perfect kids device I'd probably hang on until large colour eInk readers come out.

Now all the above aside there are some amazing learning apps (for the iPad at least) that they love to play and are educational but they aren't really story time material if you know what I mean.

Cheers

[kindlekitten]

this might help. I loaned one of my Kindles to a friend's daughter. there are quite a few good suggestions in there many of which are in e-book format. that whole section of reading recommendations have some other kid oriented reads

[ficbot]

I am a teacher and I really feel that using ereaders with very small children should be limited. You can use them sometimes, but they should be a supplement to print books. This is because there are concepts relating to early literacy that simply can't be taught without a tactile book (for example, if you look at formal assessments they do in schools for assessing reading readiness in pre-schoolers, it literally begins with 'can they hold the book the right way' and proceeds from there). It has nothing to do with sentiment or with the smell of paper or anything; it has to do with how young children learn. Compare, for example, the function of a calculator with the function of small plastic dinosaurs kindergartners use to learn basic counting. You would not tale away the dinosaurs, give a four-year-old a calculator, and expect them to learn addition and subtraction.

So, out and about, on the town, in a pinch, can Winnie the Pooh on an iPod be a fun thing? Yes. Can a child play a little with a Kindle and understand that Mummy reads on it? Yes. But should that replace paper books for the pre-chapter book crowd? No, I don't think it should.

[graphicsgirl]

Also, illustrations are such a huge part of the pre-chapter book crowd that I think paper books are better to show them off. Each book has different sizes, different types of papers, to emphasize the illustrations as opposed to viewing all of them on the same type of screen (computer or ereader). I've noticed that kids also really like to just push the buttons so they are less likely to mull over an illustration, so when reading an ebook, may turn the page a lot faster than they usually would when "studying" an illustration.

Obviously ereaders are great for reading all of the public domain classics once they hit the chapter books.

[Emmaleigh]

Hello, perhaps as a parent who taught each of our four children to read I can offer a little insight. In my humble opinion for very young children who experience the world through their fingers, as well as respond to bright colors as well as the physical experience of handling a book, I wouldn't recommend using an ereader. IMO an ereader is for after a child has become an excellent reader (3r/4th grade). Another reason is that there is the wonderful library experience, where you all walk over and pick out new books and cuddle up with them together. There really is nothing which beats that experience.

BTW, all four of our kids are voracious readers (ages 12, 14, 17 and 18). Each of them learned quite differently and if there is one thing I can say, it's that reading and learning to love reading is more important than pretty much anything your child will ever learn. It's not something you wish to mess up because it's quite difficult to undo bad habits or inspire discouraged readers.

Hope this helps!

[loopeylisie]

ficbot I had heard from a friend that her child had been considered advanced because they were able to turn pages but I was a bit sceptical till you mentioned about reading readiness being assessed by can they hold the book the right way. I feel reassured that you feel children are able to understand mummy reading on an ereader. In no way would i want or expect it to take the place of paper books, i just want her to understand what mummy uses it for.

kindlekitten, thanks for link to a great thread. ah some of those authors really take me back... might have to reread some of them ;-D

thanks for the advice everyone. very interesting. makes me realise that although i've heard people say that ereaders herald the doom of books like mp3 players did for cds, nothing will ever be really able to replace paper books.

[ficbot]

loopeylisle, I remember as a child looking at my mom's hardback books and thinking they looked so large and dull, I could not ever imagine reading them. I understood that kids books look different from grown-up books. I don't think a child would have trouble with 'I read books this way and Mummy reads books that way.' As long as you read books with her, talk about reading books etc. I will always enjoy a good book store, and that can be a fun place to take a child. You could have the weekly ritual of going to the library together and choosing books to read to her. Maybe curling up with a paper book for a bedtime story could be your nightly ritual. And at other times, sure, play with the Kindle, let her press the buttons, show her the screen of text, talk about the books Mummy is reading. And one day, when she hits the chapter book phase, download a Magic School Bus book for her or something and then tell her SHE can read a book on Mummy's Kindle too...