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Q: Are children's books a thing of the past?
I recall a visit I made to a well to do Chinese family to teach their young kids in which their kids would just play on the smartphone. The app that they were using was a famous kid's story that I recall from when I was a kid. I also recall it having many famous children's songs. With all these new apps, are children's books a thing of the past?
12 years 13 weeks ago in Teaching & Learning - China
Possibly among some, but in the general population, I don't think so. The qualifiying phrase would be "well to do," in that this particular family was able to afford a smartphone and corresponding apps for their children. Sometimes, it's a matter of expediency. Maybe the app was interactive, and the parents thought that this would get the child directly involved. There are many, many families who can't afford the latest in technology, so a "hard copy" is a readily inexpensive and traditional option.
In a 2010 interview at the Frankfort Book Fair, Ren Li, the Account Manager of Asia, stated: "The Chinese Children's Book market is growing even faster than the country's overall economy, and 20 percent of foreign publishing licences bought by the Chinese publishers are children's books."
Go down to any XinHua bookstore, and browse the children's section, and you'll find that the traditional picture book shelves are overflowing, both with domestic and internationl offerings. Personally, I still buy a lot of these books today because of the imaginative artwork and compeling stories!
FruitIsGood:
That is promising and reassuring to read. What do you think are positive ways to integrate apps into books (or is it bad altogether)?
As the poster above said, the market for children's books is a growing market and not a shrinking market. All of the major supermarkets where I live carry a children's book section and do not carry other book sections. If one were to visit the foreign language bookstores, say in Shanghai, one would find an entire floor dedicated to children's books.
China has made huge strides in literacy over the past 60 years and literacy begins with children.
FruitIsGood:
Is Xinhua the best one to check out, or are there other notable chains that are better for researching China's children books market?
we have CDs and DVDs but we still get the books that my wife reads to them and teaches them to read and write.
It helps that one of our
friends works in a big book store so finding them is a ezy
FruitIsGood:
If you had to contemplate that as a ratio, what percent of that time is taken on using the books versus CDs, DVDs, and other videos (for educational purposes)?
philbravery:
80%books to 20% DVD and CD the latter is more of a reward thing. however our 3yrs old will pick up a book and sit there and make up a story
My 3 year olds love their iPad, but the moment mommy or daddy grabs one of their books, the iPad is immediately dropped in favor of a book being read by their parents.
The iPad/iPhone is a great tool to keep them docile for a little while, but it can never replace human interaction. And if the child is old enough to read, the images and scenes imagined can never be matched by what is seen on a screen.
Books are here to stay. The medium may change, but nothing can replace the human interaction and the imagination created by them.
FruitIsGood:
Does turning a children's book series into a multimedia driven series sound like a good thing to you? To grow up with characters that also grow up with you? What are the best goals for a children's book for a 3 year old? 5? 10? etc...
