A new study, recently published in the journal Pediatrics, suggests that children engage with their parents more often when being read to from a physical children’s book, rather than when being read to from an electronic tablet. Although ebooks sell well, are less expensive, and take up less shelf space, the child’s overall experience is different from the physically page-turned, hand-held storybook.

Positive interactions, such as discussing images and content, and pointing to the characters in the story were observed between parents and their children during storytime with a real book. Non-verbal signs of bonding were also observed to have occurred more often than the electronic experience. Distractions that accompany ebook reading such as screen swiping, touching/clicking, and in some instances, sound effects, replaced opportunities where a parent and child might interact directly with each other and the book’s content, during the reading period observed.

According to Dr. Tiffany Munzer, a fellow in development behavioral pediatrics at the University of Michigan C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital, “The print book is a really beautiful object in that each parent and child interacts differently over a print book. Parents know their children well and have to make it come alive for their child to create that magic.”

— from ABC News online: March 25, 2019

Find an engaging and entertaining real, physical children’s book by a New England author. Click on RECOMMENDED POETS/WRITERS: CHILDREN.