Digital Books

A few weeks ago my grandma was reading a book recommended to her by my mom, while she loved the story, she could not get past the weight of the hardcover book.  The physical act of holding the book was taking away from her enjoyment of the story.

After listening to her complain for several days, my grandpa went out and bought her an iPad.  After the shock of being thrown into the 21st century wore off, my grandma began to explore her new toy (well, she watched as people around her showed her what she could do if she could remember the series of steps they went through).  While she doesn't use 90% of the functions on the machine, it provides her with the one thing the ink on paper book does not--a lightweight library.

When I saw my grandma a few weeks ago she was carrying her iPad, eager to show it off, and to have me help her buy her some more books (she has yet to read most of them, but she loves collecting).  Before I could touch the machine she began showing me what she could do.  As I looked at her face and listened to the giddiness in her voice (a month after the purchase), I was thinking that she looked exactly like students 70 years younger than her would look like in the same situation.

Looking at the iPad as simply a device for reading electronic text (which it is definitely not), it is easy to see its benefits to the classroom.  The shiny screen alone is enough to draw in even the most reluctant reader.  The same can be seen already in classrooms that use programs like Starfall.  These students have grown up surrounded by technology, so it is only natural for them to view digital reading as a natural activity.

For those of us raised on traditional ink and paper books it may be hard (and frightening) to imagine the future of books as digital.  But for students who cannot fathom a world without computers, it is unfair to expect them not to read digital text.  If my 78-year-old grandma can move to digital books, the classroom can as well.