It’s a babysitter that will now read to your children. New kids’ e-books supposedly enhance the reading experience with a number of bells and whistles (illustrations become animated, sound effects are added). Parents can pass an e-book to their kids and feel that a learning experience is taking place without an actual parent in charge. But researchers at Temple University’s Infant Laboratory in Philadelphia and Erikson Institute in Chicago conducted a “first-of-its-kind study” and found that an e-book reading experience is not on par with a parent and child snuggling up together with a good book. “Parents and pre-school children have a more positive interaction when sharing a reading experience with a traditional book as opposed to an electronic book, or e-book,” reported the study via a Temple University news release. “This shared positive experience from traditional books characteristically promotes early literacy skills.”
