Electronic Children’s Books: Promises Not Yet Fulfilled

The infant-toddler period is increasingly recognized as crucial for early brain and child development and school readiness.1 Parents can support cognitive, language, and social-emotional development during this period through positive parenting activities, such as reading aloud and playing together. Although parents are inundated with information suggesting that new technology can enhance or even replace books to enhance child development, little is known about whether this is true, especially in early childhood. In this issue of Pediatrics , Munzer et al2 have sought to narrow the data gap by studying interactions that take place when parents and children engage using electronic children’s books. Ideally, electronic books could increase access to a range of children’s literature through adaptation to ubiquitous digital platforms, such as tablets and electronic readers, and by offering books in multiple languages. They could make developmentally and culturally appropriate reading materials easily accessible at low cost to low-income families in the United States and globally. However, it could also be that tablet-based interfaces are less effective at supporting beneficial interactions than reading print books, especially … Address correspondence to Suzy Tomopoulos, MD, Department of Pediatrics, NYU School of Medicine550 First Ave, New York, NY 10016. E-mail: tomops01{at}nyulangone.org