50 Book Pledge | Book #3: Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell
On Monday, January 9, 2012, Jeremy Greenfield of the Digital Book World published an article entitled “For Reading and Learning, Kids Prefer E-Books to Print Books.” Greenfield states that “[g]iven the choice between reading e-books or print books, children prefer e-books.” How does he know? Well, his information comes from the Joan Ganz Cooney Center. In the Summer and Fall of 2011, the center “observed 24 families with children ranging in age from three-to-six reading both print and e-books.”
Now, let’s be clear, no one in children’s publishing is about to take a study based on 24 families as gospel. However, the industry would be remiss not to heed its insight. Truth be told, the study’s findings are not far-fetched. Not in the least.
Unlike the generation before, the three- to six-year-old children targeted by this study are not growing up in a world of Walkmans and VHS Cassettes. Instead, theirs is one comprised of iPods, Blu-Rays and e-Readers. Their world is exponentially more technologically savvy than ours ever was. Is it any wonder that today’s younger generation may prefer e-books?
Of course, we won’t know for sure until far more extensive studies are conducted on the matter. But, in the meantime, let us be grateful that today’s children are reading. I’m not about to fault them for embracing the world they live in. Are you?
