Look, Ma, "I Can Read" a Nook!

Lat week, HarperCollins launched its "I Can Read" series for early readers in iPad and Nook e-book format, in addition to the traditional paperback.

The digital line includes over 80 titles with interactive sound effects and read-along recordings.

By the San Jose Library.

HarperCollins is marketing the e-books as convenient, fun, and accessible to a generation with a commercial break attention span, but a certain technological affinity.

While many applaud HarperCollins for embracing the digital age, others remain concerned about the effects of high technologoical exposure on young children.  

• The squinting, blind-as-a-bat WoW geek [World of Warcraft, for those of you not in the know]
• The head banger gone deaf in his early twenties
• The 700 lb. couch potato next door

These are just a few of the PYTs of the information age.

An early reader on a computer screen may seem counter-productive, but if the popularity of the Nintendo DS is any indication, digital Fancy Nancy will soon supersede her paper counterpart.

 
By Joseph Choi.

Just make sure your child doesn't get too carried away in a frenzy of interactive excitement.  The sensory overload might just cause her to spill her apple juice on that expensive electronic device, and that simply wouldn't do.

Can't imagine a picture e-book?  Watch below for a touching, low-tech rendition of I Can Read With My Eyes Shut by Dr. Seuss.