What makes a good interactive book?
A good interactive book includes extensive digital features, embeds games, puzzles and media to reinforce or extend the digital story. The digital book may be presented as a video, include animation and full narration of the book (Guernsey, 2011). Traditional books have static images and illustrations; interactive books have animated video clips to support the text of the book (Bourchardon, Heckman, 2012). A good interactive book offers the reader a rich digital experience over and above the adaptability features contained with an enhanced book and E-Book. Similar to E-Books and enhanced books, a good interactive book should be widely accessible to all readers and include features that support all learners to engage with the digital text (Bowler et al., 2012). It should also be compatible with many different devices similar to that of an E-Book and enhanced book. Interactive books provide rich participation opportunities whereby students are able to engage with authors (Skaines, 2010).

What purpose do interactive books serve?
Interactive books link games, puzzles, quizzes, author interactions and hyperlinks to extend the text beyond the covers of the book. The features of an interactive book will motivate students to deeply engage with the content, extend connections and explore alternatives meanings of the text (Bowler et al., 2012) The interactive features are beyond simple games that can be played in isolation of the text, but rather they will foster critical thinking, collaboration and creativity (Ministry of Education, 2016). Young readers thrive in online, multitasking digital environments. Interactive books create a medium for students to engage in literature in a meaningful way. Young readers today are called digital natives, meaning they have grown up with a screen or device in their hands. Digital natives learn differently than previous generations, learning from a static book may be a struggle for digital natives (Siemens, 2005). The features and extensions of interactive books meet the learning needs of students in classrooms today. The functionality and adaptability of interactive books lend itself to meet the needs of all learners (Serafini, 2013).

Analysis of the Interactive Book Stick and Stone
Content
The content of the book is a great resource to support primary students learning about friendship and empathy. The interactive book is about friends that work together to solve problems. The simplicity of text and rhyme supports early readers. To extend the book beyond the pages there are three interactive activities for students to complete a word match game, fact or fiction game or a sequencing activity. Early reader’s comprehension and engagement of the book is supported by the extension activities. Students or educators can search the web through hyperlinks linked to the book to learn more about the topic covered in the book, this facilitates classroom discussions, provides an opportunity to meet student’s interests and explore connections. The interactive book includes an option to learn more about the author by providing a link to the authors’ websites. The online community of the authors’ website connects the reader to the author creating an authentic connection (Valenza & Stephens, 2012).

Features and Adaptability
Interactive books contain similar adaptability features associated with those of enhanced books. The continuum of interactivity in this form of the digital text supports all learner’s engagement and facilitates independence as each readers’ experience can be customized and tailored to meet their interests and learning needs (Kearney, 2011). The interactive book has three tiers of engagement and support. The book can be presented as a traditional print book projected on an interactive whiteboard, similar to an E-Book, there is a read-to-me feature that includes music throughout the book, engaging narration and fully animated illustrations or a video without text on the screen. Educators or students can select their reading experience based on their instructional goals, learning styles or needs.

A difference between interactive books and enhanced books that interactive books provide readers with hyperlinked opportunities to engage with the text and participate beyond the book. For example, the interactive book provides additional links to learn about empathy, thereby expanding the online borders of the interactive book. Essentially the digital content is adaptable based on student interest and class discussions.

Access
The interactive book is available through a web platform Bookflix. A subscription, user name and password is required to access the interactive book. The Province of Ontario provides all publicly funded schools with access to the program, however, students will have access to the digital literature resources at home. Bookflix can be used on many different devices, allowing teachers or students to use the program as a whole group or independently. The subscription requirement creates a barrier to access, prohibiting many readers from accessing the rich content of interactive books. Interactive books do provide wide access to the text in comparison to a physical book. For example, a library may have one copy of a particular book, whereas the interactive book, E-Book or enhanced book can be viewed by all students in the school simultaneously. The readership of digital text is broader than that of a single print traditional book on the library shelf.

How to implement interactive books into classroom instruction?
Variety of Text, Reading Familiar Words and Reading Fluency
The book text contains rhyme throughout, one strategy for early readers to gain fluency and confidence is through rhyme. Rhyme is engaging and organically encourages students to participate in reading the text. The read-to-me function creates a fun interactive opportunity for students to read and rhyme along with the narrator. Teachers and students can co-create a list of rhymes that are contained in the book and extended the lists.

Comprehension, Demonstrate and Extend Understanding, Respond to Text
The interactive extension activities provide students with the opportunity to further engage with the text. The activities that can be completed as a whole group at the carpet or students can play them independently on their own device. A hands-on digital literacy extension would be to have students write their own ending. Students can create the characters with clay and use stop motion animation to recreate a new ending to the story. The new ending can be shared with the authors’ websites or emailed to the author (Kearney, 2011). Communicating with the author through the hyperlinks provided in the interactive book fosters student participation. Students can begin to see themselves as authors.

Cross-Curricular to Social Emotional Learning and Healthy Living
The content of the book supports primary students learning empathy which is a key concept of healthy living curriculum. Students can watch the interactive book as a mind on activity on an interactive whiteboard, students can then model parts of the book and discuss how Stick, Stone and Pinecone could have handled situations differently.

Conclusion
The interactive book includes extensive adaptability features and flexibility to customize a reading experience that meets the need of all students. The interactive book will engage students with multimodal features. Educators have the ability to modify the interactive book to achieve instructional goals. Stick and Stone is a rich interactive book that offers opportunities to extend the book beyond the text. The extension activities will support a student’s comprehension and facilitate classroom discussions. Hyperlinks included within the interactive book create opportunities for students to explore and discuss ideas and topics that may have sparked their interests.

References

Bourchardon, S., & Heckman, D. (2012). Digital manipulability and digital literature. Electronic Book Retrieved from http://www.electronicbookreview.com/thread/electropoetics/heuristic

Bowler, L., Morris, R., Cheng, I-L., Al-Issa, R., Romine, B., & Leiberling, L. (2012). Multimodal stories: LIS students explore reading, literacy, and library service through the lens of “The 39 Clues”. Journal of Education for Library and Information Science, 53(1), 32-48

Guernsey, L. (2011, June 7). Are ebooks any good? [Web log post]. Retrieved from http://www.slj.com/2011/06/books-media/ebooks/are-ebooks-any-good/#_

Kearney, M. (2011). A learning design for student-generated digital storytelling. Learning, Media and Technology, 36(2), 169-188, DOI: 10.1080/17439884.2011.553623

Ministry of Education. (2016). 21^st Century Competencies: Foundation Document for Discussion. Queens’ Printer for Ontario. Retrieved from http://www.edugains.ca/resources21CL/About21stCentury/21CL_21stCenturyCompetencies.pdf

Serafini, F. (2013). Reading Workshop 2.0. Reading Teacher, 66(5), 401-404. Retrieved from http://ezproxy.csu.edu.au/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=pbh&AN=92711892&site=ehost-live

Siemens, G. (2005). Connectivism: a learning theory for the digital age. International Journal of Instructional Technology and Distance Learning, 2(10, 3-10. Retrieved from http://www.itdl.org/journal/jan_05/article01.htm

Skaines, R.L. (2010). The shifting author-reader dynamic: online novel communities as a bridge from print to digital literature. Convergence: The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies, 16(1), 95–111 DOI: 10.1177/1354856509347713

Valenza, J. K., & Stephens, W. (2012). Reading Remixed. Educational Leadership, 69(6), 75-78. Retrieved from http://ezproxy.csu.edu.au/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ulh&AN=73183267&site=ehost-live