Don't fear the Reader: how technology can benefit children's books by Sam Leith

New technology, far from tempting kids away from books, promises to add a new dimension to reading.

Photo: Guardian photographer Jill Mead

'Why don't you turn off that TV and read a book for a change?" Such was the traditional teatime war cry of 1970s Middle-Class Mum. Its antiphonal response: "Oh muuum ..." I belong to a generation that was conditioned to see television, and later computer games, as the enemies of childhood reading: rivals for time and attention that could be spent with a book.

Now that computers are a means by which books are transmitted, that distinction is breaking down. We must now set aside the prejudices of our parents and the superstitions we have about books being magical objects imbued with learning.

The internet is putting young readers in touch with each other, too. Some playground crazes are literary, and they can go global.The explosion of fan fiction – much of it by children and young teens – is a vitally encouraging instance of the way creative reading and creative writing can become the centre of an online community. JK Rowling's Pottermore site, which opens to the public this month, looks like is offering a model of how a children's author might engage with readers without compromising the texts.
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Source: People with Voices