Will children read eBooks and Book Apps?

I'M CURRENTLY working with an author who has crafted some children's books and is quite keen on creating print books, eBooks and iPad apps of the books. But does a digital screen, such as a Kindle or iPad, distract a young child too much?  A blog post by Richard Curtis quotes some interesting findings in this regard.

According to a recent New York Times article, K, J. Dell’Antonia, Lisa Guernsey of the New America Foundation’s Early Education Initiative suggests that “when we read with a child on an e-reader, we may actually impede our child’s ability to learn.” She found that parents interact differently with children over an e-reader than over a physical book and suggests that difference may make children slower to read and comprehend a story. Parents and children can often get distracted with manipulating the screen or pushing buttons, rather than focusing on the story.

My own experience reading print books and eBooks to my 2 year old confirms this. The iPad is built for interaction. The screen is supposed to be touched and the thrill for a young child is when you touch the screen and it changes in interesting ways. So a young child will be far more interested in touching and manipulating the eBook than actually obsorbing what is being read to them. 

That said, many of the books designed for young children have less of a narrative component and are more like flash cards - farm animals seems to be the most poular subject.  As print books, these are dead boring. But as an eBook or interactive app, they are far more interesting and I believe absorbing for young children.

Digital and interactive learning are already subjects of considerable study but with the growing adoption of e-Readers, tablets and smartphones, early childhood learning via digital devices is likely to be an important area of scientific interest.