As a book-devouring adult reader, e-books have changed my life. But one of the areas in which I still prefer paper is children’s picture books. Once they hit chapter-book reading level, I’d happily turn a kid loose on an e-book reader, but when they still need pictures, and when the layout and typographics matter, this is one genre where paper still rules. Or … does it?
It’s been a holiday weekend here in Canada (Happy Canada Day!) and we spent most of it in big-chain bookstores letting the young relative we were visiting play with the train tables that were set up there. And of course, while he was busy, we browsed—after all, his birthday is coming up, and the boy does love trains!
So of course, the Beloved goes straight for the big boxes of massively expensive wooden train gear, and I go for the books…
…and I fell in love, with a gorgeous hardback Thomas the Train collection—this was the original collection of illustrated Thomas stories, before the TV shows and the toys and the commercialization came about. This was the Thomas stuff that was literature, not just media tie-in. The book, at full bricks-and-mortar retail, was almost $50. It was exquisite. And if I can find a second-hand or discounted copy, I might yet cave and buy it for his birthday.
But … who is it for? Let’s be honest: Would my three-year-old friend get more use out of the $40 tunnel attachment than he would out of that book? Isn’t the book really for me, and for my romantic ideals of the time I hope to spend with him over the years, cuddling up on the couch together and sharing my love of reading?
E-books are fine for plain-text fiction, for quick consumption by a fast reader like me who can’t afford the space to store so much paper. But for books that do rely on a visual aspect, there’s something to be said for the paper experience. It’s not that it’s e-books or paper for me, it’s rather that the space I do have for paper books is limited, so I would rather spend that space on really pretty ones.
I know that the $30-$40 I may spend on that beautiful book will give me at least $40 worth of satisfaction. But if we look at cost per use, I have to realistically admit that the physical train he can move and touch and play with will probably get a lot more use by my little friend.
That doesn’t mean the book is a bad buy, by any means. But it does mean that it’s probably me I’m buying it for—not him.
The Thomas collection you are referring to might look expensive, but if you buy the individual books that are included in that collection separately, you will spend more. I got this collection for my son for Christmas when he was two. We never could read just one story… sometimes three wasn’t enough.
These stories were repackaged for the early episodes of the TV show and perversely were then repackaged again as books where the original art work was replaced by images of the shows (and the shows sanitized the stories a bit). Now my younger son is starting to get into trains and in a few months I look forward to reading these stories again to both of my boys.
I smiled reading this, an honest reflection on who some of these purchases are for! I felt the same about an exquisite print version of Peter Pan for my daughter. As to e-books and kids, I was slow to warm up, but after participating in a beta test for a children’s ebook company (Bookboard.com) and watching my five year old read her first sentences using an ebook, I started paying attention. Not all digital reading is created equal. I appreciate this firm’s approach with ebooks that respect the original book and don’t add bells/whistles/games, etc. “Books aren’t broken” is their mantra and that, alone, gives me some faith. Here’s an interesting interview with one of the cofounders about what they are trying to accomplish there: http://www.digitalbookworld.com/2013/reward-kids-to-encourage-reading-q-and-a-with-founder-of-bookboard/