The blog posts that follow will contain reviews of three different examples of digital literature, along with a concluding critical reflection on my experiences. The three digital literature examples that I have reviewed align with the three most popular formats of digital literature for children and young people, as identified by Allan: eBooks, apps and “born digital narratives” (2017, p. 22).
It is important for educators to have criteria to evaluate the quality of digital literature (Walsh, 2013; Dobler, 2013). The evaluative criteria that I will be using is drawn from criteria established by both Yokota & Teale (2014) and McGeehan et al. (2017), which I have rephrased as statements:
- Criterion 1: The text is appropriately presented in digital format (Yokota & Teale, 2014).
- Criterion 2: The text takes advantage of features the digital world allows, beyond what is possible in print (Yokota & Teale, 2014).
- Criterion 3: Supplementary features align with the text (McGeehan et al., 2017)
- Criterion 4: Interactive features maintain the integrity of the main story (Yokota & Teale, 2014).
- Criterion 5: Digital features support readers’ acquisition of words or comprehension (McGeehan et al., 2017).
I have added one additional criterion to this list, suggested by Dobler (2013):
- Criterion 6: The story within the digital text has literary merit.
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Pop Out! The Tale of Peter Rabbit, designed by Loud Crow Interactive Inc. (2017), is an award-winning eBook that is available as an app for mobile and tablet devices. It costs $5.99 AUD and is aimed at readers aged four and older. The eBook is a digital reconstruction of the beloved tale by Beatrix Potter and the story is unchanged (Walsh, 2013). It is one of several digital adaptations of classic Western children’s literature (Allan, 2017).
The word eBook, a contraction of ‘electronic books’, describes paper-based literature that has been digitised (Dobler, 2013; Sargeant, 2015). eBooks range in interactivity from traditional “paper-under-glass” texts, also known as direct digital replicas, to more recent digital texts that offer far more reader interaction (Allan, 2017, p. 22). This current trend is made possible by tablets and mobile devices with touch-screen technology. Pop Out! The Tale of Peter Rabbit is an example of an innovative eBook as it integrates digital elements such as navigational options, animated visuals, and interactive features (Sargeant, 2015; Serafini et al., 2015). The text is an immersive experience for young readers, incorporating sound effects (such as giggling bunnies and rustling cabbage leaves), audio narration of the text, animated illustrations, and classical piano background music (Lamb, 2011). These elements contribute to the cheerful mood of the story (Roskos et al., 2014). Pop Out! The Tale of Peter Rabbit retains the charm and whimsical nature of Potter’s original illustrated story with added digital features for a modern audience.
Evaluative criteria
| Criterion Description | Evaluation notes | |
| 1 | The text is appropriately presented in digital format | The opening scene looks like the top of a writer’s desk (imitating Beatrix Potter’s), with a fountain pen, ink pot, writing samples, a sepia-toned photograph of a rabbit and a hard copy of the original story.
The text is clearly laid out on each of the pages of the story, mimicking the format of the traditional storybook. For each double page spread, one side has text, and the other side has an illustration. |
| 2 | The text takes advantage of features the digital world allows, beyond what is possible in print | Many of the interactive elements, both on the opening page and within the pages of the book, are indicated with a tag which has a pointing finger. This is a digital version of a pull tab in a pop out storybook.
A lot of the interactive elements are intuitive and not indicated with labels that have textual instructions. For example, if you drag the bookmark vertically down the screen, you open a navigation panel so that readers can skip to any page. These interactive features support children exploring functionality through touch-screen technology. This is playful and encourages textual discovery. Some of the icons are hard to see, however, such as a small icon that is transparent and takes readers back to the start of the page. |
| 3 | Supplementary features align with the text | The only supplementary feature is a link to the Loud Crow Interactive Inc. (2017) website. |
| 4 | Interactive features maintain the integrity of the main story | Readers can interact with the illustrations by dragging pull tabs or tapping on visual elements to animate the scenes. Examples include when readers can tap on gooseberries that swell in size or leaves that start tumbling down the screen.
While visually appealing, this “eye candy” clutters the page and may distract from the story (Lamb, 2011, p.17). Young readers could have their attention diverted by the “play-based features” which interrupts their comprehension of the narrative (Sargeant, 2015). This is also a criticism noted by Yokota & Teale (2014), particularly when blackberries splash on the screen, which is not pertinent to the story. |
| 5 | Digital features support readers’ acquisition of words or comprehension | There are numerous features that would help young readers, such as the audio narration. Before starting the story, children can select to “read myself” or “read to me” which launches an audio narration by a female, English narrator with a soft voice (Loud Crow Interactive Inc., 2017).
Text highlighting occurs as each word is read by the narrator (Segal-Drori et al., 2010). Even if the audio narration is disabled, by selecting “read myself”, readers can tap on individual words to hear them read aloud by the narrator (Walsh, 2013). This is helpful to “model oral fluency”, recognise words, and for vocabulary development (Dobler, 2013, p. 20; Yokota & Teale, 2014). Research suggests that these features may also assist readers who find reading independently challenging (Lamb, 2011). Unfortunately, there are no built-in word definitions, and the eBook is only available in English (Dobler, 2013). |
| 6 | The story within the digital text has literary merit | Beatrix Potter’s stories are part of the Western canon of renowned, high-quality children’s literature (Allan, 2017). |
Reference List:
Allan, C. (2017). Digital fiction: ‘Unruly object’ or literary artefact? English in Australia, 52(2), 21-27.
Dobler, E. (2013). Looking beyond the screen: Evaluating the quality of digital books. Reading Today, 30(5), 20-21.
Lamb, A. (2011). Reading redefined for a transmedia universe. Learning and Leading with Technology, 39(3), 12-17.
Loud Crow Interactive Inc. (2017). Pop Out! The tale of Peter Rabbit (Version 1.8) [Mobile app]. App Store. https://apps.apple.com/au/app/popout-the-tale-of-peter-rabbit-potter/id397864713
McGeehan, C., Chambers, S., & Nowakowski, J. (2018). Just because it’s digital, doesn’t mean it’s good: Evaluating digital picture books. Journal of Digital Learning in Teacher Education, 34(2), 58-70. https://doi.org/10.1080/21532974.2017.1399488
Roskos, K., Burstein, K., Shang, Y., & Gray, E. (2014). Young children’s engagement with e-books at school: Does device matter? SAGE Open, 4(1), 1-9. https://doi.org/10.1177/2158244013517244
Sargeant, B. (2015). What is an ebook? What is a book app? And why should we care? An analysis of contemporary digital picture books. Children’s Literature in Education, 46(4), 454-466.
Segal-Drori, O., Korat, O., Shamir, A., & Klein, P. (2010). Reading electronic and printed books with and without adult instruction: effects on emergent reading. Read Writ 23(8), 913-930.
Serafini, F., Kachorsky, D., & Aguilera, E. (2015). Picture books 2.0: Transmedial features across narrative platforms. Journal of Children’s Literature, 41(2), 16-24.
Walsh, M. (2013). Literature in a digital environment. In L. McDonald (Ed.), A literature companion for teachers (pp. 181-194). Primary English Teaching Association Australia.
Yokota, J., & Teale, W. H. (2014). Picture books and the digital world: educators making informed choices. The Reading Teacher, 34(6), 577-585.
Header Image Source: Figure 1. Screenshot from the eBook (Loud Crow Interactive Inc., 2017).
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