Print Books or E-books?

What’s best for our children?

By Lulu Skantze

Electronic devices enable us to access, at the touch of a finger, millions of e-books at a lower cost and with easier storage than printed books. Most children’s books and magazines are now available in digital format too. This makes sense as many children use electronic devices at an early age. While it is important to embrace all technologies and see stories available in all formats, printed materials have an essential role in developing young readers.

Deep Reading ‘Deep reading’ is an important process which is activated when reading from paper and particularly applies when reading high-quality, long texts. Screens affect our reading processes and the more we read short texts on screen, the more our reading shifts towards skimming. Consequently, our tolerance for reading long literary texts diminishes and we lose the benefits of using the cognitive processes that deep reading involves. In addition, reading from devices involves juggling multiple distractions, such as interactive touchscreens, hyperlinks and alerts, which move our attention away from what’s being read. This adversely affects our comprehension and reading speed. Mindful reading Printed books help children develop the habit of reading through mindfulness. They slow us down and enable us to engage with a book with no sounds, distractions or screen glare. Reading printed books teaches us to connect with the present moment and be in the reading space, which is a wonderful thing to learn and a habit to develop that will be useful for life. Shared reading Printed books make shared reading easier than e-books. Shared reading is incredibly important when it comes to encouraging a child to read. A book allows for more discovery and children can interact with it for longer in a more engaging way, as well as being able to colour in, draw, underline words and so on.

Reading for pleasure Studies have found that reading for pleasure plays a huge role in a child’s confidence, personal development and academic achievement. It is so important that reading for pleasure now forms part of the National Curriculum. If you read books to your children, you will engage them in a magical world of stories, adventures and fantasy. It will be a gift that lasts a lifetime.

Shared reading tips Sit together with your child so that your they can see the pages you’re reading.

Reading for pleasure

Reading is fun, entertaining and relaxing; it also improves writing, spelling and vocabulary and increases general knowledge and understanding of other people and cultures. Here’s how you can help your child to fall in love with reading: • Make reading part of your child’s routine and life. • Have old and new books around at home and treasure them. • Pick books that are at the appropriate level for your child. • Put aside quality time to read together every day, even if only for ten minutes. • Listen attentively when your child reads to you. Dig deep into the stories with them. • Value the importance of books, magazines and stories. Discuss them with your child and ask why they like certain books. • Don’t leave home without a book so that your child can read anywhere. • Join your local library and visit it with your child so they can choose and borrow books they are interested in and discover new authors for free. • Exchange books with friends. • Treat your child to a magazine subscription or book vouchers for special occasions.

Lulu Skantze is co-founder of Storytime, a high-quality monthly magazine that helps to improve children's literacy - with no adverts or plastic toys, just great stories. Visit www.storytimemagazine.com

As you read to your child, get them involved from the start. Can they guess what the story might be about from the title? Follow each word of the story with your finger, so your child can associate the sounds they’re hearing with the letters they see. Encourage your child to read out loud with you when reading rhymes and repetitive stories. Ask your child to listen and repeat unfamiliar or hard-to-pronounce words. This will help their pronunciation. Talk about what the word might mean to help build their vocabulary. When you find a complex idea or sentence, stop and ask your child whether they understand. Point to the illustrations, ask your child who the characters are and what happens next. This helps build anticipation and encourages participation. When reading aloud, put lots of expression into your reading, so your child can copy what you’re doing. When you’ve finished, ask questions about the characters and what happened to them.