For Their Children, Many E-Book Fans Insist on Paper
Surprisingly, it seems that the ebook wave is not engulfing kids and toddlers. In fact, even parents who prefer their books online want their children’s first reading experience to be in print. “They want their children to be surrounded by print books, to experience turning physical pages as they learn about shapes, colors and animals.” And this preference is showing up in the sales figures. Publishers estimate that ebooks “represent less than 5 percent of total annual sales of children’s books.” This is not to say that children’s ebooks have no future. More children’s books are being digitized and the market is expected to grow with the number of new reading tablets and the increasing variety of apps being developed for interactive children’s ebooks. But right now, as Jon Yaged, president and publisher of Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group says. “There’s definitely a predisposition to print.”
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One Response to Caught my Eye: For Their Children, Many E-Book Fans Insist on Paper
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This makes perfect sense given the technology available currently. I’m not handing my iPad over to my 7 year old. I’ve seen the way he falls asleep on top of it at night. And he’s got other things to do when he’s using our desktop or laptop.
We’ve also got a romantic idea about books and kids that doesn’t pan out. We want to think that every book we buy for them is going to be influential and a favourite. But we know that’s not true. They gravitate towards a few and the rest are garbage. Most children’s books are fodder, valuable only as one more that has contributed to their ability to read, building vocabulary, or learning content.
Only when tech is more kid-proof and we are less idealistic about the printed word will ebooks (or eliterature of some kind) be on the rise.