The world is an entirely digital landscape these days. It’s important for us to know where and how to access both digital and physical books and media for not only ourselves, but children too. Between Libby and Hoopla, YouTube and other streaming services, many kids find their digital materials just as easily now as a person found them using a card catalog. With the rise of digital media, it’s so important for kids to have the same access to items online and in-person.
Cynthia Houston highlights this in her article Digital Books for Digital Natives (2011). For those of us born after 1980, we have always had the internet or some form of technology within reach. Though I myself had to reach for a dictionary to spell something, many people my age and younger have never needed to (Houston, 2011). Today’s kids don’t know what the world looked like before technology. They have tablets, YouTube kids, and access to their parent’s cell phones to watch videos, have stories read to them, and to access Bluey whenever and wherever they like. Ensuring that they have the ability to see and read The Hungry, Hungry Caterpillar might not be their first choice, but it is the first choice for busy parents who might not have access to the physical book or have time to get them from the library (Houston, 2011).
Though Houston’s article is slightly dated now and there have been many advancements in the digital realm, it’s an important topic. Not only do we need to have access to these items digitally, it’s also important for them to be interactive and not just a scanned photo-copy of the print version (Houston, 2011). Kindle is a great example as to how an e-book, formatted correctly, can be interacted with, highlighted on, and pulled up on any device – Kindle, cell phone, tablet, or computer. There are other sites out there that allow kids to click on an image within the story and they can teach them about that specific item! Coming into the digital age is key for the success of literacy of youngsters who might only have their parent’s cell phone to read on.
Houston, C. (2011). Digital Books for Digital Natives A Tour of Open Access Children’s Digital Literature Collections. Children and Libraries.