The best books for kids can be in your device, instead of on your shelf
I love physical books and magazines, especially on the beach or by the pool. There are instances, however, when my kindle and my iPad beat paper hands down. One is when I am on the go. The other is when it’s ten at night and my daughter realized that she left her copy of “The Picture of Dorian Gray” in her locker, and she needs quotes from the book to finish the assignment that she must turn in electronically by midnight. In that instance, and for the following reasons, e-readers are the best.
1. Easy to schlep:
One book may be smaller or weigh less than your Nook, Kindle, or iPad, which come in at 6.2oz, 8oz, and 1.5lbs respectively. But two books probably weigh more. If you’re traveling and are a fast reader, a lover of epic novels, or are carrying children’s books, you will need between a couple of books and a whole stack. And the beauty of your e-reader is that it is exactly the same size, shape, and weight whether you have one book loaded, or 1,500.
2. Better for the environment:
The environmental impact of an e-reader ends at the purchase of the reader. Every book or magazine you buy after that makes a negligible footprint. When your reading material is made of paper, each one has to be physically created and shipped to stores. And you have to travel to go buy it. So the impact is not just paper, it’s also emissions from cars and trucks. When your reading material is digital, all you need is electricity to charge your device. If you really want to keep it green, you can charge your e-reader using a solar powered charger, which, like your reader, is small, light, and very portable.
3. More Illustrations:
Because e-books have no physical limitations in size, many e-books and storybook apps for children have substantially more illustrations than their paper counterparts. This adds another level of enjoyment to the reading experience.
4. Instant gratification:
When you need new reading material, not having to drive to the bookstore or the library is both environmentally friendly and wonderfully convenient. With e-readers, a new book is available to you whenever and wherever you have Wi-Fi or Internet connection. This is excellent for students whose reading crises always happen late at night. It’s also wonderful when your kids are little and it’s raining cats and dogs or you’re at Great Aunt Sophie’s house or the airport, and you need some new picture books for children. You can buy books wherever you are at that moment, and have a little quiet, quality time with your kids.
5. Customize your book:
Physical books are static, but e-books can adjust to make it easier or more comfortable to read. You can make the print smaller if you fly through the page too quickly. You can make the print bigger which is especially helpful if you are older or if your child is just learning to read. And you can place bookmarks in an e-book, just like you can in a physical book, but your bookmark can’t fall out of an e-reader.
6. Customize your search:
When you are looking for new reading material, there are plenty of resources to choose books. You can start with the very traditional library search, check out reader’s web sites like Goodreads or LibraryThing, rely on the recommendation of friends, or go peruse your favorite book store. E-reading apps are offering some exciting new ways to find books. For example, the fairy tale storybook app, Ponyapps, has a tool they call ‘Fairy tale Kingdoms’ which allows you to choose a story by the theme you want to discuss with your child.
7. Lighting to suit any room:
E-readers generate their own light, so you can read no matter what the lighting situation is wherever you are. You can read a book in bed without bothering the person sleeping next to you, or you can read bedtime stories for kids in a darkened room without trying to angle a lamp to perfectly illuminate the page but not the whole room. The simple e-readers, like the Kindle Paperwhite, do not emit much (if any) blue light. But if you have a tablet and are sensitive to blue light at night, blue light screen filters or glasses that block blue light are a simple solution.
8. Vocabulary builder:
Even the simplest, bare-bones e-readers have built-in dictionaries. If you don’t know what a word means, you just tap it and the definition is right there for you. So you and your children are much more likely to look up a word because doing so does not interrupt the flow of your reading. If readers have to look up a word in a separate book, which is probably in another room, they are unlikely to find out what it really means. They will probably rely on context clues and guesswork, which is a lost learning opportunity.
9. Learn better:
Reading on tablets opens up a world of multimedia, which can help you or your children learn something more quickly and more completely than just reading text alone. When reading to learn, many e-books and apps integrate fun educational games for kids or adults. These games reinforce the material and are also entertaining. Tablets can also use sound and interactivity in addition to text. This helps people who are more auditory or kinesthetic learners to fully grasp new concepts.
Reading is fun, relaxing, illuminating, entertaining, educational, inspirational, and indispensible. There is a time and a place for reading physical books and magazines, and a time and a place for e-readers. Why limit yourself?
