Our feature this week is from MobiStories, publishers of digital books for kids. The team at MobiStories blends reading and storytime with digital platforms such as Mac, PC, DVD, iPhone, iPad, and more (see their extensive FAQ). If you ever wonder how gizmos, gadgets, and mobile devices are going to affect our children, and what the future of reading might look like for kids, then read on!
We at MobiStories have been creating children’s picture books digitally for a few years; first exclusively as computer downloads, and lately as both downloads for home computers and as apps for iPhones and iPads. With the glut of app development, especially upon the release of the iPad, there seems to be a question buzzing around: “What exactly is an app?”
Apps offer many varieties of entertainment: games, experimentation (with color, light and sound), preschool education, maps, restaurant reservations, coupons, and the list goes on. With the release of eReaders like Kindle and Nook, digital books seem to be an easy sell. But something happens to a book when developers take advantage of the interactivity that can bring a book to life. A totally different experience is created when readers can interact and engage with the book, its characters, and the story.
When a child can read a board book like MobiStories’ SpringHD on the iPad, and then turn each page into a jigsaw puzzle to be solved, is it still a book? When youngsters who can’t yet read watch The Marvelous Toy app, a book based on the famous folk song from the ‘60’s, and learn the song by hearing the tune and following along with the lyrics in text….would that be considered a learning-to-read event? So does that mean it’s a book?
We had a very busy month in May, attending several key conferences on app development and child development/education events. Dust or Magic’s App Camp, presented by Warren Buckleitner, explored all areas of app development including educational apps, books, and games. Sandbox Summit, held at MIT by the folks from Parents’ Choice Awards, looked at how children learn through play and through doing. Engagement was clearly the key topic at this conference. We also exhibited at the nation’s largest publishing tradeshow, Book Expo America (bea) in New York. Seeing the publishing industry finally embrace digital books was inspiring. But at all events the same question was raised: “If a book is on a screen, is it still a book?”
Once a book is transferred to a digital property and transformed into an interactive app which invites the user to explore and engage while maintaining the integrity of the story and original text & illustrations (although they may have been enhanced to allow for the interactivity)…
Is it still a book? Or is it something different, something more?
Many digital book creators have chosen to highlight text as the narrator reads it. Some reading experts agree that this can help teach youngsters to read, while others disagree, saying that everyone reads differently and may naturally read more or fewer words in a phrase than is highlighted. Many parents may remember the “follow the bouncing ball” of sing-a-long songs and this memory makes them think highlighted text is crucial. But when kids read a traditional book, the text doesn’t magically turn into a bright back-lit color. So, how crucial is it to learning to read? With apps we have the benefit of making this happen, so why wouldn’t we? Or, just because we can do it, should we? For that matter, if a book is a printed version of oral storytelling, is an app yet a different method of storytelling, and if so, are printed words (text) even necessary to the storytelling experience??
Is there another term that should be used for books evolving in the digital realm? We’d love to hear your thoughts. Leave a comment. Maybe you can come up with what an interactive digital book app really is..…“BookApp” ?? Hhhmmmm.
I believe that A book is a book is a book 🙂
It is what you say it is.
We are working on a deal with a big publisher and we have pitched our version for a digital book – interactive, vivid, using the iPad big screen.
There is no one way to experience books.
I think that you can’t take away the charme of my kids before going to bed, choosing which book they want to read from their library (that I’ll read to them), but there is also charm and family time when we are “gathering around” the iPad to read a story together.
I find that if the interactive part is contributing and part of the story then they want to do it, but other wise, they just want to read the story.
Another thing is that when it’s a brand like a Shrek, or one of the Princess books, then they expect more out of it.
Thank you for making great books.
Eyal
iMagine machine
Faces iMake – Creative Craziness !!!
As a traditionalist, I personally feel that there is no substitute for a printed text book. Plain text leaves your imagination up for grabs, and stirs images of your own making with no pre-defined interpretation or agenda aside from the words themselves. HOWEVER, making reading opportunities MORE available through other forms of media can be a helpful evolution. More reading, more stories, more literacy opportunities = better. Whether they are called eBooks, digital books, interactive stories, as long as it can all work in harmony with traditional reading scenarios, then I’d view it as a positive trend.
I think a book is still content whatever the form. New and exciting ways of delivering content make it possible for you to carry around more selections than ever before. Readers are able to find the content they love more easily too. It’s an exciting time to be a reader.
I like the m-w.com definition that “books yield knowledge”
…as newspapers and mags have shifted to the cloud online… Encyclopedias now have gone online as living wikis… Schools are issuing iPads to reduce the cost of textbooks…
Our goal is to yield knowledge through a living multimedia “book” of dynamically changing questions which test not just math but reading comprehension and science. Our “books” are never the same, interactive, and as m-w.com states “something that yields knowledge and understanding”.
http://www.iHomeEducator.com
I am probably a traditionalist too, so I like to call a hard-copy-book a book. On the other hand I happened to work in IT and live in a high-tech era and area so I am far from refusing tech gadgets as carriers of a book-like content. Combining these two aspects of myself resulted into our approach to children’s books for mobile devices here at Okenko Books – we specifically don’t incorporate any build-in features like puzzles, games or interactive info, we end up with the text and illustrations only, we even don’t go for voice covers. We decided to stay as loyal to original book as possible and we hope there is a niche on the market for book apps like this. Check us out in the end of July when our children’s stories line is going to be launched.
http://www.okenkobooks.com
I think ebooks is a wonderful addition to the world of reading. Our children will be completely comfortable with it. However, their thinking mode may become more ‘hunter-gatherer’ and less ‘strategic’ with too many clickables.
I also like the way ebooks will make it easier for writer-illustrators to flourish.