Link Du Jour: Books on the iPad. Whoa.
The CEO of Penguin recently presented some of their in-development book concepts for the iPad (including children’s and YA titles), and I recommend you take a look. With the Kindle in my mind as the ebook standard, I underestimated the interactivity of the iPad, which is on full display in the video below.
As I never see black and white, only gray (such is my curse), my feelings are predictably conflicted. The cardigan-wearing traditionalist in me says “They’re turning books into video games. Video games bad!” (my technology-fearing caveman side also came out there). The to0-cool-for-school futurist in me says “Chill – this is the way we’ll all be reading soon. And take off that lame tie”
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What do you think?
(Thanks to The Huffington Post for the link)
Filed under: Link Du Jour, News
About Travis Jonker
Travis Jonker is an elementary school librarian in Michigan. He writes reviews (and the occasional article or two) for School Library Journal and is a member of the 2014 Caldecott committee. You can email Travis at scopenotes@gmail.com, or follow him on Twitter: @100scopenotes.
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Seriously – whoa.
I have to admit that I think it’s really cool.
But what if you drop it? I mean, if you drop a book, you might dent it a bit but it’ll still work. I guess I am probably the kind of person who would drop my iPad (just after the warranty ran out) and be out of luck. Then it’s back to the boring ol’ library for me. 😉
You can’t find a bigger book advocate than me BUT I also think this is the future. I was a voracious SF reader as a tween/teen/young 20s adult and THIS is just what I’ve been waiting for. The future I imagined and read about is happening NOW!
That looks excellent. Really really excellent. I am very excited to see Apple’s tablet become a reality. I do think this is the future of ebooks.
I suppose they’ll come up with some very sturdy case for children to use around it. I mean, the last laptop device we had at school were the Alphasmarts, and those things were practically indestructible.
You and Abby bring up a good point about durability. That will certainly be important if the iPad is going to be a successful reading device for youngsters. A case, a strap, perhaps a special pillow you must use it above all seem like good ideas.
A bit surprised it seems to simple and yet useful.
I am SO in my cardigan when it comes my absolute love for the palpable quality of a good old-fashioned paper book. Especially when it comes to picture books. I saw Francoise Mouly speak recently and she made a good point about the “end of print” and e-books for kids. Basically, she said keeping print alive is essential for kids because… you can’t click on a printed book. Print does not change. And it’s important for kids to see the same thing, in the same form, over and over again to learn through repetition. Not an electronic whiz-gig that is in constant flux and motion.
Yeah it looks cool, but long live print!
Great points Matt. And I agree – ebooks for children are a whole different ballgame than for adults. Your comment about repetition is so true.
I agree with you Travis, I’m completely split. That device has my nerd-o-meter in the red for certain. My love for books, however, cannot be outweighed by my interest in fancy gadgets. Besides, the interactive features are nice but they seem like too much of a distraction for those who like to just dive into the book and only resurface for air on occasion. Weren’t there some studies published that showed the difference between a person’s brain reading on the internet/e-book devices vs. a person’s brain immersed in an actual book? If I’m not mistaken those studies showed that we become fully involved in a tactile text and are too distracted while reading on a screen.
Still, it is a really cool device and probably the wave of the future.
great…