I gained access to the ebook The 26-Storey Treehouse by Andy Griffiths (2015) from my local district library using the app called Borrower Box. I have read some ebooks in the past on my partner’s kindle, but they were all Amazon purchases. This was my first experience reading an ebook from my local library branch on my tablet. It was an easy process to borrow the story and I will absolutely use this online service again. I was quite happy with the digital presentation of the story but noticed some significant differences in the way a device is used to read the story. It was something that I wasn’t accustomed to and different to my previous experiences of reading ebooks using a kindle.
The navigation of this ebook is easy to use, tapping the right side of the screen to turn to the next page and the opposite way on the left side of the screen. The full menu can be brought up by tapping in the middle of the screen at the top, including going back and bookmarking favourite pages. The chapter search function is fantastic in navigating and tracking the reader’s progress at the bottom of the screen. Having this easy transfer from paper to screen means that different digital skills that can be used to explore this narrative (National Literacy Trust, 2014). This ebook can be read the same way as the printed copy of the fictional storybook. Children will be able to enjoy this storybook in digital form, particularly if there are limited copies available in their school or local library.
I discovered that changing the text size and zooming in on pictures was not a function that could be performed when reading the story on my tablet. It only worked on the font that was not linked to any of the pictures. This meant that any pictures that also had descriptions or labels included in the visual became a lot harder to read as you couldn’t zoom in on them. The simple transfer from paper to screen certainly limited this text function but allows the reader to closely analyse elements of the story on their device (Baldini, 2019). I wondered how children might handle this issue and whether the physical copy would be a better option for those that wanted to read the story.
Another feature that an ebook contains is the ability to use an internet browser to search for any unfamiliar words. However, clicking and holding your finger over any of these words throughout the story only created one method of searching for them throughout the ebook. There was no function that allowed the reader to use a dictionary or thesaurus to identify the meaning of those words. Readers would need to understand that this is an important search feature in navigating ebooks before trying to test this (Browne & Coe, 2012, p. 289). The story is imaginative, but if the reader had not heard of any of these comparisons to nursery rhymes for example, then they could not use an internal internet browser on their device to assist them.
There is a lack of colour throughout this ebook, apart from the title page when you click on the title icon to open it. The ebook contains the same black and white art style that Terry Denton has illustrated in the same printed story. It kept me really engaged in the story and occasionally takes up most of the page due to the situation. For example, towards the end of the story Andy, Terry and Jill are trying to escape one of characters in the Maze of Doom. This presents several pictures being formatted onto one page, allowing the reader to view the physical direction that they are moving.
This storybook links to different areas of the curriculum that either Classroom Teachers (CT) or Teacher Librarians (TL) can unpack in their teaching. The main literary focus is the imaginative elements in the storytelling and the use of nursery rhymes that would benefit those readers in kindergarten to year two. The variety of animals could also be discussed and explored in Science lessons as there are themes exploring the care of marine life and how to dispose of rubbish or re-use items. The final link that could assist students in Mathematics is the topic of direction, which will particularly assist students in kindergarten.
I was very happy that I took the time to read this storybook as I had already read the first book and this ebook re-invigorated my interest in Andy Griffith’s writing style.
References
Baldini, M. (2019). Children’s literature and hypermedia. The digitalization breakthrough in the children’s publishing sector. Studi Sulla Formazione, 22(1), 101-114. DOI:10.13128/Studi_Formaz-25557
Browne, G., & Coe, M. (2012). Ebook navigation: Browse, search and index. Australian Library Journal, 61(4), 288-297. Retrieved from https://ezproxy.csu.edu.au/login?url=https://search-proquest-com.ezproxy.csu.edu.au/docview/1242448210?accountid=10344
Griffiths, A., & Denton, T. (2015). The 26-storey treehouse. Pan Macmillan Australia.
National Literacy Trust. (2014). The Impact of ebooks on the Reading Motivation and Reading Skills of Children and Young People. Retrieved from https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED560635.pdf
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