E-book rise leaves children unfamiliar with traditional books
A generation of children are growing up unaccustomed to reading printed books, according to a new report commissioned by the Publishers Association.
They found that parents are now increasingly purchasing e-books for their children with sales nearly tripling to 2.6m in the first six months of this year compared to just 1m in the first half of 2011.
This explosive growth has prompted experts to surmise that a generation of children are growing up with the familiarity of screens rather than paper pages.
Recent advances allowing picture books and ‘flowable text’ where content adjusts automatically to the device being used as being behind the rise.
Last year sales of children’s books fell by 7% compared with 2010 although they still account for only a small proportion of total sales.