HOW WILL KIDS READ IN THE FUTURE?

Will our kid's read the same way as us?

Pine Tree Post | Books

Instead of the flashlight under the blankets, hiding from the parents, trying to get through that one last chapter, will that classic childhood memory be more like: hiding under a blanket with a light up Kobo...?

Here, in the Place Under the Pine, reading is a large part of life. Tens of thousands of pages are read annually by its adult citizens, (upwards of 40,000 page in 2013), with a similar amount read to the younger citizens. A great majority of this reading is done through physical, get-from-the-library, old school technology...paper books. But, that old fashioned way of reading is changing.

This little guy is readin' it old school!

As noted a couple of years ago, Audiobooks have been one way Lolli has 'consumed' literature. But, until last year she had only read, and been read, hold-in-your-hand-page-turners. Then Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, the ebook version, was read to her. It was no better, or no worse, than if it had been read in hard cover. A novel is still a novel. Just pages of words, right?

It is until the device runs out of power.
Paper books do not run out of power.

But, overall the reader and listener did not find the experience of an ebook much different.

Outside of the book, the story, the words, there are some pretty significant benefits to having ebooks around. They tend to be less expensive. They are better for the trees. They open up a whole new crowd of authors (it is an inexpensive ways of getting their writing out there). But, by far, the biggest plus is that they are a space saver.

A bookcase or two (or more) can fit on the memory card of this slim piece of plastic!

Lolli's bookshelf

Boy's room bookshelf

The drawbacks are mostly sentimental (unless you are a paper company);you cannot feel the pages when you turn them, you do not get that distinct smell of an old book, you cannot feel the weight of an epic hardcover in your hands, you cannot see your massive collection of yard sales finds stacked beside your bed just begging to be read.

Still lovin' those used books

As more of the world turns digital will books follow? Will our kid's kid's reading experience look like this?

Kids nowadays read, listen, and surf the net all at the same time!

Or do books hold such a special place in our lives, our society, our culture, that we will always remember books like this?

Reading with loved ones.

Getting lost in the pages of good book.

Learning to read from words printed on paper.