Children will soon be able to enjoy some of the most beloved books digitally.
Random House Children’s Books announced Dr. Seuss classics will be published as e-books starting Sept. 24, Publishers Weekly reported. The rollout will start with 15 e-books, such as “Green Eggs and Ham” and “The Cat in the Hat.” By November, 41 of Dr. Seuss’s books will get the digital treatment.
According to PW, the books will preserve the original layouts and illustrations.
This is good news for the children’s e-book market. Anyone who been around children knows that these books are usually a staple on a child’s bookshelves.
Just yesterday, I was with my 2-year-old niece as she showed me one of her new gadgets, a Leap Frog device that she called her iPad. I marvel as my young niece breezes through the device, showing me the different apps. She also loves playing with my mother’s iPhone, going through the pictures and telling me about each one.
Children are growing up with technology and it’s native to them. The learning curve isn’t as severe because this is what they’re used to now.
But that doesn’t mean the things we grew up on (and really, I’m not that old) can’t be there for present and future children. The delivery is just different. I read Dr. Seuss from taking books out of the library, she can read the books and enjoy the pictures by looking at it on her “iPad.”
The Dr. Seuss e-books will cost $8.99 and $10.99, depending on the title.
“The introduction of e-book editions to the Dr. Seuss canon is an exciting milestone that we know will enhance Dr. Seuss’s legacy,” Susan Brandt of Dr. Seuss LP told Publishers Weekly. “When Dr. Seuss wrote The Cat in the Hat more than 50 years ago, he revolutionized the way children learn to read. Today, we celebrate that his impact on reading will thrive for generations to come with these new e-books.”
These have been available as apps, at least iphone/iPad apps, for years. Am I missing something?
“the books will preserve the original layouts and illustrations”
In ‘Green Eggs and Ham’ some of the text is part of the artwork, so it should be interesting to see if this will truly be epub/mobi files. I think these will be fixed layout pdf’s.
Fixed layout in iBooks for iOS is quite sophisticated. Fixed layout is an EPUB 3 feature. Also new in EPUB 3 are media overlays. This enables Read Aloud in children’s book which is really quit a lot of fun.