Thanks to a generous grant from our district's foundation, our Media Center will be acquiring 30 iPads in the near future. We are interested in seeing how well they work for our smallest students (K-2) for whom a laptop is a tad delicate. We also hope to connect with those students falling behind and lacking engagement -- tactile learners, anyone?
But, in great part, we are interested in checking out how reading from an electronic tablet works out. Fear not! Miss Shelved fully expects a printed work of literature to be pried from her cold, dead fingers when the time comes to meet her maker. But we are ready to concede that electronic readers may have their place. College students spending $100-200 a pop for textbooks spring mostly easily to mind. Even K-12 textbooks would be nice -- if they are actually designed for reading online, not just digitalized images of pages that do not fit the screen. Our students' backpacks -- not to mention backs -- would be the better for it.
But most intriguing are the possibilities for class and small group reading. How many classrooms and libraries have bins and bins of "class sets" of ancient paperbacks. When investing in such a large number of copies, one can only imagine being swayed to make an easy choice. Don't go out on a limb, don't court a challenge, go for the least common denominator. Once purchased, there is a certain obligation to use the set, despite how uninspiring. How can one justify spending money on a new title before the old ones are worn out? With digital readers one can share a single digital purchase with as many readers as sync to the account-bearing server. Trust us: Miss Shelved checked this very thoroughly with her vendors. How lovely to spend $9.99, or even $19.99 and have a book students are keen to read -- and have enough copies for a literature circle or two or an entire class if need be. And if it is not one's cup of tea next semester, or next year, so be it.
Side issue: But WHAT (one may ask) about the CLASSICS? We bow to none in our appreciation of the classics of children's literature. However, like antiques of other kinds (and we use the term in all reverence and good intent) they go in and out of fashion. Many are, like other delicate items, designed for children to enjoy best under the direct supervision of a caring and responsible adult. This is where teachers get to indulge their own delight in sharing the text with students, so that intonation (and occasional sidebar discussions) might clarify dated or complex vocabulary and syntax. One hopes that old favorites will continue to entertain and enlighten children for years to come. But they are not always the best choices to encourage developing readers to go solo.
As school librarians, we cannot afford to be too snooty about children's choices. Yes, they will continue to sniffle along with us at Charlotte's death every year. But even avid readers will tear through a lot of potboilers on the way to fluency. Even better, there's a lot of really good writing for children coming out every year. With all the new ebooks available we can afford (now literally) to mix it up a little without lowering standards.
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