While e-books may be on the rise among Kindle-loving parents, there’s nothing like printed books for their children, according to a story appearing in the New York Times on Nov. 21.
In an article entitled, “For Their Children, Many E-Book Fans Insist on Paper,” Times reporters Matt Richtel and Julie Bosman reported that parents say they “want their children to be surrounded by print books, to experience turning physical pages as they learn about shapes, colors and animals.”
While sales of digital books to adults are proceeding at a faster-than-expected pace, sales of e-books meant for children represent less than 5 percent of total annual sales of children’s books, according to the Times article.
This is heartening news to the staff at Unplug and Reconnect.
Recently, we reported on the video of the “iPad baby,” a cute toddler who clearly confuses the pages of several magazines with her parent’s iPad. The little girl becomes bored when she can’t manipulate the pages as she would an iPad and soon pushes the magazines aside.
“How valuable can it be for a baby to learn that mom’s iPad, with its flashy moving images, is way cooler than the printed page?,” we lamented.
We’re glad to know that many parents apparently agree that there’s nothing like the printed word. Literally.