I think I am in a digital transition. While I am open to providing innovative and creative ways to engage students with literature for my own reading pleasure my preferences are not that of an ebook.  In all honesty I love an audio book just as much a physical book.  I think that comes from my own struggles as a young reader at school.  My grandmother, a former high school english teacher, bought me Read Along Book & Tape sets and later moved to sets of the classics including, an all time favourite, Playing Beatie Bow. I would follow along with the books as the narrator took me away with Alice, Mary Lennox and other – I still have some of them too.

My own children would fall asleep to audiobooks, ranging from the Night Garden to The Faraway Tree, however, they prefer to be in ‘control of their reading’, says my 10 year old. Audiobooks play a huge role in my reading pleasure now, particularly while I am studying.  I highly recommend interactive books to students and teachers for pleasure, as well as to support the curriculum, with positive success.  I particularly love Screen Diver for interactive comics for young adults.  I fell in love with the adaptation of Nam Le’s  The Boat, illustrated by Matt Hyuhn.

I love the picture book, It’s a Book, by Lane Smith, which has also been digitised abridged version in the form of  a book trailer. This is a picture book identifying the difference between a paper book and ebook.  I appreciate there are benefits and limitations for both formats, but at then end of the day everyone has their own preference on how they read. As a TL I strive to ensure everyone can connect with literature.

Like Sadokierski, I love the smell of an old book and wandering the shelves of a books store.  There is a sense of calm, familiarity and comfort in finding a wonderful book and then curling up with a cuppa in my reading nook at home – particularly on a cold day.  Sadokeirski speaks of nostalgia, it is exactly that, knowing what it feels like, smells like, and sounds like to be taken away to another world – a similar anticipation and excitement I have readying myself to take flight in an airport.  The views of avid readers I know speak of the physical book as a whole experience, knowing “your progress in the text”, agreeing with Mangen (cited in Jabr, 2013).

I teach 20 Year 7 and 8 Library classes in a fortnight.  In that time we promote books and help students find their next great read.  We also facilitate ‘Retro Reading’ during our library lessons, which is reading a physical book only, for up to 30 minutes.  Working closely with ‘Digital Natives’ they always prefer to wait for the physical book, or choose another book, than read the digital counterpart.  Which is consistent with the observations, and preferences for print, made by Jabr (2013) regarding reading format preferences in recent studies.  Since COVID, we have increased our ebook purchases, for students to continue reading while they were in lockdown.  While some engaged in our ebook platform, our avid readers were so glad to come back and hold a physical book in their hands.   

 

 

References

Huynh, M. ( 2015). The boat – based on the story by Nam Lee. SBS.

              http://www.sbs.com.au/theboat/

Daniels, E.C., Burwen, D., Sutu, Shiga, J, Milesi, B., Milesi, J. & Vlaanderen, R. ( n.d.).

              Screendiver –  The digital comic directory. https://screendiver.com/

Jabr, F. (2013, April 11). The reading brain: The science of paper versus screens.

              Scientific American.  https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/reading-paper-

              screens/ 

MacKids Books. ( 2010, 17 August). Its a book – Book trailer. [Video]. YouTube. 

           https://youtu.be/x4BK_2VULCU 

Sadokierski, Z. (2013, November 12). What is a book in the digital age? [Blog Post]. 

          https://theconversation.com/what-is-a-book-in-the-digital-age-19071

Smith, L. (2010). It’s a book. Roaring Book Press.