Book Wars: Reading Electronically Might Be Better for Your Kids

Read a toddler a print version of The Cat in the Hat, then read them an E-book version. Which one is better? According to a recent study, young children are more engaged by electronic books.

In the studt, researchers Gabrielle Strouse and Patricia Ganea—from the University of South Dakota and the University of Toronto respectively—compared toddler reading habits in a random trial. Parents were instructed to read their toddlers two books about farm and wild animals, either in a print or electronic format. Observations showed the children who read e-books were more involved in the reading process, more engaged in discussing the book and paid closer attention while reading than children who read print books.

Strouse and Ganea qualified their results, saying, “One important caveat to our findings is that increased engagement does not always translate into increased learning.”