Comments on: When are E-books Appropriate for Children?

By: Jeanette McLeod

Jeanette McLeod — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 18:22:08 +0000

Hi Edward. I was intrigued by your title as when wouldn’t ebooks be appropriate for children? It is well documented that 20% of elementary/primary school kids do not meet the required standards in literacy both in US and UK. Of course increasing literacy activities leads to an increase in literacy skills. I do not belive [IMHO] that ebooks are meant as a replacement for sitting and sharing a book with a child. They are meant as a way of increasing a child’s exposure to reading using a different and engaging format. They can also be wonderful for engaging reluctant readers. We have to face it that kids love technology so why don’t we use this to our advantage and turn screen time into something educational?
Like David I was inspired to create engaging and interactive ebooks for children at http://www.wizz-e.com where the magic of books come to life. Kids can read along to the audio and follow as the words highlight to model fluency or chose to read themselves and click on any unfamiliar words to hear them spoken. Feedback from parents and teachers alike has been very positive.
We certainly do not want to replace the utter joy of sharing a book with your child but we do believe that increasing the ways that we can encourage our kids to read more has to be a good thing.

By: David Maybury | Blog » The week that was… publishing

David Maybury | Blog » The week that was… publishing — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 10:47:32 +0000

[...] Jeanne Mosure (Senior Vice President, Disney Publishing Worldwide) talk e-books in the lead up to Disney’s Digital Book releases. [...]

By: David K. Park

David K. Park — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 17:26:25 +0000

As a parent, I love to read to my children and nothing will replace that experience. However, I was frustrated that there wasn’t another option between static books and DVD/TV that I could offer my children. Therefore, I decided to start a company, called MeeGenius!, focused on enhanced and personalized children’s books. Enhanced, meaning all the books have audio playback and word highlighting and personalized meaning that all the enhanced books can be personalized by the parent and child. We offer three types of personalization: (1) full – completely rewrite the story and then add your voice (2) auto – quickly answer a few questions and presto the story is rewritten for you and then add your voice and (3) audio only – just add your voice to an existing story. We’re currently in private beta. We have a long way to go to improve the user experience but if you’re interested in trying the site, here’s an invite link to the private beta:

http://www.meegenius.com/?inviteCode=2_XFaUebL0QXiq1P9ehwZRFA

By: Vix

Vix — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 21:09:13 +0000

I am a parent and a new author of children’s books and I have to admit to not wanting my daughter to be infront of the PC and becoming addicted to it until she was at least 5. I quickly came to realise that computers are the basis of their world and since she was 2, I have taught my daughter how to use one, but I do limit her time to an hour and the majority of what she looked at was educational and fun.

I now think that all children should be introduced to computers from an early age – otherwise they are going to be behind in school – but also because it can be educationally fun! ‘Leapfrog’(TM) produce an interactive book system for young children and I think that ebooks are a natural progression from that!

I read to my daughter every night and she loves reading books and listening to CD stories and loves anything that is interactive with words. SHe is a fast learner and is reading well herself now. I think as soon as they can read – they should do so in whatever format they find best…. but for everyone, ebooks, as with anything that requires close eye focusing, should be done for short periods at a time otherwise you risk eyestrain!

By: Pete Nikolai

Pete Nikolai — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 18:37:57 +0000

Good question! As a parent of four teenagers, I can attest to the natural attraction kids experience towards all things digital. I miss the days of reading to my kids. While I would hate to see anything replace that connection between parent and child, I believe that replacing the hours most kids spend each week passively watching television or videos with an equal number of hours spent interacting with words would be a welcome and positive change…

By: Disney’s Digital Future

Disney’s Digital Future — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 08:02:06 +0000

[...] DISCUSS: When are E-books Appropriate for Children? [...]