

For Their Children, Many E-Book Fans Insist on Paper - bleakgadfly
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/21/business/for-their-children-many-e-book-readers-insist-on-paper.html?hp

======
umarmung
I remember very vividly some of my earliest extended reading experiences.

One day I found a whole box of old Marvel comics that someone had lovingly
collected since the 40s, including first issues of entire heroes and villains!
I had no idea what treasure I had unearthed. All I knew is that to an 7 year
old, the combination of illustrations (even in black and white) and frame-by-
frame storytelling was an incredible revelation! I spent the entire summer
going through the whole box and passed them around to my siblings who loved
them almost as much as I. This was the birth of my fascination with sci-fi and
later fantasy stories (there was a surprising amount of mythology in Marvel
comics, especially the old comics).

When I was a little older, around 9 or 10, my father bought me an entire set
of thick encyclopedia books. Each one of the fifteen tomes was one inch thick
or more. To a child, they initially looked intimidating as hell, though the
color and texture of the covers as well as the detailed illustrations on
perfectly smooth, polished paper was surprisingly attractive. At first, I
would only use it to lookup something I did not know. But later, the
interconnections and ease of reading was so great, that I ended up reading
each book cover-to-cover! This is how I really discovered my appreciation of
knowledge and how I gained strong confidence and desire in using and spending
time in libraries for both work and pleasure.

Somehow, I doubt the depth of these childhood (self-)discovery and learning
experiences could be easily replicated with any e-books... This is even if
there were not so many distractions in modern-day life such as mobiles and the
Internet.

Therefore, I am not surprised there is a move back to paper for parents.

In particular, I believe simply the tactile nature of books at the very
earliest ages (say 1-7) is important. Humans are physical beings and they
relate and respond most strongly to physical objects, even if it is to later
discard that physicality. This instinct should be developed as early as
possible when the brain development is most primitive.

In addition, a child gains the feeling of control, understands there's a
difference between a thing and its representation in words and pictures
directly, but that the representation itself is real and is a thing since you
can hold and control it. This will then lead to a deeper understanding of the
real revolution technologies provide later. Tip: it's not that you can use
gestures on your iPad books! :)

~~~
erez
This is a very narrow, romantic view of things. If a future kid finds a 40
year old e-book reader, would that be less of a find than the comics? more?
Are books better because they wear and tear? I can buy a new book, then leave
it outside in the sun and dew for a week, would that make it better? Why isn't
a digital edition, that could also supply a kid with references to the
original mythologies and books worse?

Would you like your child to learn about the world from a dated, occasionally
incorrect encyclopaedia, simply because it weighs more? What is the difference
between a print of a picture on paper than on a screen? Neither is an original
creation. An artist can create a 100% digital image on his PC, but according
to this logic, printing it in a book gives it some magical "quality". Books
are not physical objects because they have pages. You're superimposing your
own values, as someone who grew without computers on this era. Leafing through
an old book isn't more or less enriching because of the weight, the yellowing
pages and smell of old glue, but because of the discovery and learning.

------
adestefan
My daughter is 2 and every book I've purchased for her is a paper book. I also
choose paper books when I'm getting a book for myself, but think it's a book
my child should read in the future. I do this because I'm not sure if the
ebook will be there in the future. Also, there's a higher probability of
discover of the book on a bookshelf in my house instead of it being one of a
thousand files on a computer somewhere.

~~~
rkudeshi
_I do this because I'm not sure if the ebook will be there in the future._

This is why I wish ebooks were sold without DRM.

(For what it's worth, there are programs available that make it relatively
easy to remove DRM from your purchased books. I use them on every book I buy
for the very reasons you outlined.)

~~~
adestefan
It's not just DRM. I'll be the first to admit that I'm terrible about
maintaining my digital libraries. I'm slack on backups and I have files all
over the place. Also, I don't put much stock in maintaining my digital library
in "the cloud." I'm fairly confident that Google, Amazon, et. al. will be
there in 15-20 years, but it's not a guarantee and no one knows what will
actually happen with all that data once one of them does go belly up. Remember
no one though Lehman Brothers would disappear in less than a week.

------
kemayo
I love my Kindle, but I don't want my two year old daughter to use it.

Why? She's hard on things. If she tears a page out of a regular book, that's
no big deal; if she cracks my Kindle's screen that's rather more annoying. If
I had an iPad, that'd be even more worrying -- a $600 device is a bit much. I
could read _to_ her from the ebook, but since she likes to read for herself
I'd then have to get her child-safe copies anyway...

Also, the sort of books aimed at a two year old are pretty picture heavy. A
Kindle has many strengths, but pictures are not among them.

As soon as she's onto less picture-heavy books, and I think she's trustable
with such a device, I'll be letting her use one. I have no particular
emotional attachment to the paper form, which I want to pass onto her.

~~~
thmcmahon
I wouldn't worry about your Kindle's screen. I broke mine, and Amazon replaced
it, even though it was completely my fault.

Although I agree about a Kindle and pictures.

~~~
kemayo
It's less of an issue now that the Kindle's so much cheaper, admittedly.

------
erez
This is a yet another article reminiscing about "the old way" claiming "the
new way" takes away something which was never there. There is nothing romantic
about a book. There is nothing especially important to kids about print in
contrast with a digital edition. It might not be a fair comparison taking a
600$, 10" monochrome ink-gray kindle reader and comparing it with a large,
colourfully printed kids book, but assuming you have a device able to
reproduce it, being sturdy enough to survive your average 2-years-old, what
exactly is the advantage of a book? The idea that a tree died for it?

~~~
PedroCandeias
It's not a matter of romantic notions.

E-books all look and feel the same, plus they lack texture, smell and make no
sound when a page is turned. They're an abstraction of the reading experience.

Everything about handling a book stimulates the senses. Books have weight,
texture, colors, smells, and they make noise when pages are turned. Because
they vary so wildly in size, typography and paper composition, there's an
enormous variety of sensations to be had.

E-readers are great and convenient for grown-ups, because all we want is the
content, but young children are at a time of their lives when they need to
physically experience the world around them. Physical books are better than
e-readers on that count.

~~~
erez
ebooks have texture, color, they can make sounds, you need to interact with
them to move. What you think of are toys, not books.

~~~
PedroCandeias
See, everything is a toy to a six year old. Everything they see, hear or
handle shapes their development in some way. Devices like smartphones and
tablets have great unique uses, like people in other comments are saying, so
I'm not suggesting you ban kids from using them or anything.

But I maintain books have far more physical qualities than any tablet or
e-reader. Variety, for starters. Tabs and e-readers all come in some shade of
black or gray, they all present a very similar glass texture to the touch, and
they only have that new gadget smell for two days. On the other hand, very few
books are the same. Moving from a magazine to a hardcover to a paperback may
be all the same for you and me, but for a 6 year old is an extremely important
feast of sensations that informs her developing mind about the myriad
materials and textures and smells the world is made of.

Why rob a child of that variety?

~~~
erez
When 'Everything is a toy', there is no real meaning whether it's an ebook, a
book, a cutting board... The question is, whether a book allows for anything
special, or is removing books 'robs a child of a variety'. I think not. We
can't all have every stimulus available for our children. I never experienced
snow until I was 30. Some kids never see an ocean. Some live in the city, some
in a more rural environment. Some have pets, some don't. Future generations
will not live with paper in their household. They will not be robbed of
anything.

Keep in mind, this isn't saying ebook readers are suitable for everything. No
ebook reader, at the moment, can match a huge, colourfully printed kids book,
not to mention their fragility and price isn't suitable for kids. The same
goes for feelies, pop-up books, cards with animals, or colours or other such
educational toys, and so on. Take those out of the equation, and there are no
advantages for print over digital. Actually, there is no advantages for print
over anything if those are taken out, since a child will just refer to them as
yet another toy.

~~~
PedroCandeias

      removing books 'robs a child of a variety'. I think not.

By definition, it does. The issue seems to be whether or not that variety
matters. Trouble is, that leads to a discussion about parenting instead of
tech :/

------
tikhonj
I think a very large portion of ebook users have Kindles or similar e-ink
devices. These are great for reading text-heavy novels, things you would
normally get as low-quality paperbacks anyhow. They are _horrible_ for picture
books and the like--black and white, low resolution and you can only view one
page at a time.

Normal screens like tablets and computers are better for picture books but
have other issues--they're relatively expensive, run out of battery quickly
and strain your eyesight.

Ultimately, it should come as no surprise that _picture books_ do not
translate as well to ebooks as novels.

------
HedgeMage
For the 5-and-under crowd, ebooks simply cannot compare to the paper book
experience. Color, size, the physical act of page turning, and (for the
littlest ones) texture are too important.

However, my 8yo is in the process of earning his own e-reader. At this point,
he's past the sparkly, fuzzy, pop-up, colorful books and on to chapter books
(which are printed in simple black on cheap paper anyway), so nothing is lost.
He's very responsible with electronics, and the idea of having something so
grown-up has really helped him get over his reading anxiety and become an
enthusiastic reader.

The portability is a big benefit for him, too... it's nice to let him easily
take his reading with when he gets shipped off to his grandparents' farm on
breaks from school, or we run off somewhere together.

The main down-side, from my perspective, is that on an ereader, I can't let
him take his books to school. It's too easy to have an item like that stolen,
stepped on, spilled on, dropped -- you get the idea -- in a hectic 2nd grade
classroom.

------
edtechdev
There are a ton of reasons one could imagine for this (not that any of these
are true - just guesses): E-books for kids are generally not interactive -
what's the point or advantage of getting electronic versions (which are often
not cheaper, either). Also, the electronic devices still belong to the parents
- kids can't take the ipad to bed with them, but they can take the books.
Another issue is the bookshelf - kids can see and choose books, and parents
and kids can see what they've read - a 'virtual' bookshelf isn't the same and
again, isn't owned by the kid. Mainly though, it's just tradition - we might
teach/parent the way we were taught/parented, or we might like the nostalgic
feeling of reading a real book to our kids. Reading The Night Before
Christmas, for example, is a big tradition. We got a version of the book that
let us record grandpa reading it (the nook tablet now supports that feature,
too).

------
ctdonath
A key problem with ebooks is the lack of instant differentiation. It's all a
sea of equality, no discernible difference until you in fact read it. This vs,
say, my main bookcase (I've 26) instantly discerning deteriorating comic books
from gold inlay leather bound classics ... and the key difference that my
favorite works are in that case while lesser & disposable volumes aren't. This
vs my ebook collections where everything is on what amounts to one set of
racks differentiated only by retailer.

I mention this in context because my biggest concern is my children can with
ease peruse a large collection of fine works worth their time and
consideration just by the fact the titles are in a limited physical space,
while the ebooks are mere bits in a dense sea thereof. Atoms are important for
ensuring others can find them.

FWIW: one of my daughter's first words was "iPad".

~~~
pault
Sorry if this is a bit off topic, but I'm working with some illustrators on an
interactive children's book, and I'm curious how parents feel about book apps
for kids.

Does the idea of a richly interactive children's book appeal to you, and if
so, how much interactivity is too much? At what point does an interactive book
become a game, in your opinion, and do you think video games for young
children (under 6-ish) present moral or developmental issues?

~~~
brc
An interactive book is a good thing, but you have to know whether it is for
increasing the parent/child reading experience, or to hand it over to the
child for self entertainment (ie, stop bugging me for 5 minutes and read
this).

In the first category - having things move/animate would be more important
than story telling, in the second, having a self-led easy to use system for
the child to work their own way through a story is important.

> do you think video games for young children (under 6-ish) present moral or
> developmental issues?

No, but if you let a young child endlessly play video games you've only got
yourself to blame. Interactive books for children are to paper what
illustrated is to text. There are no 'morals' in material (assuming the
content is benign) ,only in the way they are allowed to access it.
Developmentally, you have to bring up a child in the world it's going to live
in, electronic devices are here to stay.

~~~
pault
Thanks for your feedback. We agree with your two use cases, but we have no
idea which will end up being dominant. I guess we will just have to ship it to
find out.

------
voidfiles
I mean, it's a simple mechanics problem right. Have you ever tried to lie down
and read to your kid from an iPad, or kindle. It's not easy. Also, kids like
to use books hard. Reading to them selves, kicking them around a room.

I don't think it's a market thing, i think it's a how you use them thing.

------
VonLipwig
I wouldn't read ebooks to my kid. I have a kindle and it is currently my
preferred method of reading. I don't like reading a book as it always get
damaged and it bugs me when I am left with a 600 page book taking up shelf
space.

However... for a child I think it is imperative that they learn about books
and libraries. There is so much technology around it is important to me that
his room is free from all technology for as long as possible.

Also, for young children I think it is nice for them to be able to pick up and
choose a book and not flick through some options on a single device to get to
the story they want. In time this may be what my kid does.. but i'll be damned
if I do anything to promote it.

------
ethank
My son (2.5) has quit with books at his bed time and insists on iPad books
([http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/the-fantastic-flying-
books/id...](http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/the-fantastic-flying-
books/id438052647?mt=8)) and videos (mostly Pixar shorts). We also sometimes
compose a Garageband track together.

The first generation iPad is plenty durable for his use. We just handed down
one of our older ones when I got a iPad 2.

------
rcthompson
I think it goes back to that article/rant a few weeks ago about touchscreens
and similar things being a transitional technology to hold us over until our
technology gives real tactile feedback instead of a flat glass surface.
Tactile feedback and learning how to grip things are very important for small
children to learn, so I definitely agree that paper books are best for them.

------
WalterBright
Until there's password protection for the "buy now" buttons on the Kindle,
there's no way I'd let a kid borrow mine.

------
imcqueen
moving my question to ask all parents - is it the technology or specifically
books? do your kids use your ipad/computer for other things?

I'm not a parent myself, but my nieces and nephews love the ipad. they stick
to content made specifically for the device tho, they arent "e-reading" dr
seuss.

~~~
frossie
I have purchased and read to children e-books on both an e-ink device and an
iPad, so perhaps I can make a few comments from experience.

The main problem is that the quality of children's ebooks is very poor. Even
chapter books for < 10yo (say The Magic Treehouse series) have extensive
illustrations. I can't believe it is a limitation of e-PUB (after all, we seem
to have graphic novels beautifully presented on the iPad), but illustrations
in children's e-books are generally shoddy. Images are abominably low-res,
non-zoomable and so on.

There is a popular children's series called "Geronimo Stilton". It uses not
only images but imaginative typography, for example:

<http://goo.gl/Md88y>

I bought an e-PUB of one of those books - the e-publisher's solution was to
treat the ENTIRE page as one low-quality image. It was awful. It also cost as
much as the actual book.

Which brings us to pricing. There is no real saving in buying children's
ebooks over the actual thing, and in fact with bookstore discounts the print
is often cheaper.

The article makes the good point that children receive many books as gifts,
and of course there is a tactile pleasure with books to the point where I
wouldn't expect 100% e-book penetration, but I certainly would purchase more
children's e-books if the quality was acceptable.

As for iPad-type interactive stories, they are really quite a different
category. They are nice as a diversion, but their quality and quantity comes
nowhere near 200 years of great children's storytelling.

------
UjjwolL
There is no uniqueness to E-books because it all has the same typography. I
think the publishers and providers needs to work on improving typography of
E-books and work on providine e-versions of the books not just digitalized
version of the printed edition.

------
redfiche
I was really disappointed to find no ebook version of Raold Dahl's books, so I
bought most of them in paperback and read them to my boys. Now I'm reading
them The Hobbit on my Kindle. Prior to that we used several interactive
reading apps on the iPad.

------
dgurney
For me, the most basic barrier to children's e-books is that tablet screens
aren't big enough yet. There's nothing like a 12" by 12" picture book to
really pull you into the world of the illustrations. An iPad-sized screen just
doesn't cut it.

------
angus77
When e-readers get down to the $10 price point, I'll certainly consider buying
a stack for my kids!

------
nobody31415926
Is it perhaps because you aren't allowed to read eBooks to your children ?

<http://www.lessig.org/content/standard/0,1902,22914,00.html>

~~~
maxerickson
For those that don't click, Adobe published the (public domain) book and ran
screaming away from the position implied by the parent. The file had some
"don't read aloud" metadata that Adobe claimed was for devices and then
removed in a subsequent version.

