Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Children’s Books

NPR had a recent post on The Future of Children’s Books. Did you know that “Consumers buy $3.1 billion children's books annually”? Those numbers may go up with the explosion of e-books and apps. The post is a transcript of a conversation between host Mary Louise Kelly and Dan Poynter, consultant and publisher at Para Publishing, and Roxie Munro, an author and illustrator of more than 30 children's books. Before you link over to read the full transcript, here are two snippets:

Poynter: “…11 million parents have purchased an e-book and 19.6 million parents plan to buy an e-book.”

Munro: “I think within one generation - maybe 30 years - very few houses will have bookshelves and few people will have libraries just like they collect art or stamps or fine prints.”

It’s not a long piece, so click over if you’d like to read it. My question for you today is, since kids today are so used to iPads and other e-readers, do you think moving to e-books will be easier for them than it is for the older generation?

17 comments:

  1. Much easier. My grandkids don't have textbooks for school anymore. It's all online.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Oh yes! My daughter reads almost everything on line now. When she has kids that will be the norm.

    ReplyDelete
  3. And companies will keep coming out with newer, better, e-readers!

    ReplyDelete
  4. 3.1 Bbbbbbillion? I think I'll change Headwind's title to: Mickey and His Amazing Flying Machine.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I agree that it will be much easier for children to adjust to ereading in many forms. Also, easier to carry one of those than a heavy bookbag. The only thing they'll need to remember is to keep the battery charged!

    Morgan Mandel
    http://morganmandel.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
  6. Morgan's right: It'll be SO much easier on them, not to have to carry those heavy textbooks around!

    Interactive children's books make reading print a different experience. As long as books are printed, there will be people who champion that experience, and I think print will have a robust future alongside electronics. Ones and zeroes can vanish with sickening suddenness, as any writer who forgot to back up a manuscript can attest!

    Marian Allen
    Fantasies, mysteries, comedies, recipes

    ReplyDelete
  7. Most of the text books at my eldest son's school are being transferred to online. It's great they don't have to carry them. My heart does feel heavy though about the change. There is just something about holding a book in my hands.

    ReplyDelete
  8. My kids love reading and working with real paper books. They use electronics for entertainment. We'll see. I'm fine with the evolution, but it's definitely a trickle down thing.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Yes, I do! Think of all the schools already using tablets for their books. Besides, think of the trend of the music industry. Many kids don't even know what a CD is, let alone a cassette or record.

    ReplyDelete
  10. I think it will be tons easier. They're already there for some of them.

    ReplyDelete
  11. I think it doesn't phase them - e-books are a legit source of material. However, there's nothing like a paper pop-up book, or paper interactive or paper art. I still think it's richer on paper at this point in time. No matter what - the goal is for kids to read and enjoy reading - however it's presented.

    ReplyDelete
  12. I remember my daughter's high school years when she carried so many books in her backpack that I don't know how she managed to walk. E-readers will really help students!

    ReplyDelete
  13. On my way over now!

    ReplyDelete
  14. I think so too Hel. They are more in tune with technology and I think that savvy will just spill over to books. My son souls rather read on my iPad or listen to an audio book.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Yep, kids do their schoolwork on laptops here in NC. And most kids have access to everything electronic. I don't like it! I want them to read real books with real crisp pages and a real bookish scent.

    Picture books are even headed that way.

    *waving*

    ReplyDelete
  16. I actually think this is good for the environment - and I love the idea of books become collector items like fine art. Of course, that presupposes technological life will continue as we know it. That, in itself, is debatable with climate change issues. But this is another conversation. ;)

    ReplyDelete
  17. I love paper books; though I make interactive books for the iPad, yes I do. I still need to hold a book in my hands, specially when I'm at the beach or the pool. I don't think is fair to just replace books with eBooks, they both have their pros and cons, and different applications. In my first iPad interactive book for children called "Albie and friends" I had to decide where to draw the line which separates an app from a read-out-loud book. But this should all go in a separate blog post altogether right? Good post. Cheers. Adrian.

    ReplyDelete

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...