As a parent I love a little one-on-one time with the son and daughter in front of a good book. What I don’t like are those crap-gasmic Disney books that float through every child’s book collection, titles like “The Jungle Book” that are basically advertisements for the movies. And what I really don’t like is this new initiative by Disney and their partner to suck the life out of even those abhorrent configurations of words.
That said, you can probably tell what I think of these online versions of over 500 Disney books available now at DisneyDigitalBooks. Kids can read over 500 Disney books, make their own books, and even “befriend Disney characters,” as creepy as that sounds.
The books appear on-screen on your laptop and you can click on words for pronunciation. That’s right. It’s a book on a laptop. It features Disney characters. But what, there’s more.
You can add up to three kids for $8.95 per month or $79 for the year. $8.95 so your kid can prop a laptop on your kids bed and let him or her read Toy Story while you fix yourself a Tom Collins. Seriously. Is this what Disney wants? We have enough trouble convincing the kids not to ask to play Mario Kart Wii all day let alone equate reading with dragging a pointer across a laptop screen.
Add in wonky stuff like this request for a D-Name and the fact that this automatically enrolls you into Disney.com, entitling you to free spam, is an extra bit of insult to injury.
Maybe I’m old fashioned but is my outrage justified here? I agree that I’m a bit hypocritical in my adoration of the Kindle but after a certain point reading becomes a solitary pleasure. However, during the short window between birth and the age of gaining the ability to amuse oneself, there is a period when human interaction in front of a dog-eared, garage sale copy of “The Poky Little Puppy” is a small, good thing.
Oh, ok, that makes sense. Thanks.
very nice post
Yes, you are old fashioned. While this effort by Disney is a bit of a fail, eventually the golden books and dr. suess classics of your youth will be digital. That doesn’t mean the parent-child interaction part of it has to go away, but the format will change. I would be willing to bet that 10 years from now, that dog-eared copy of poky little puppy will be the exception.
I also am not sure that the nature of reading in general will not change dramatically. My kids have grown up very digital, and really show little interest in any media where they can not be an active part of it, whether that be by commenting, creating or transforming. Even when reading dead trees, they seem to have a need to connect that reading with other creative activities. While I still enjoy curling up with a good book, that doesn’t seem to be on their radar at all. And given how creative they are, and how intense and interested they can be with other media, I’m not sure that’s a bad thing.
On a side note, why does my comment above get listed as “Facebook User” when I am not logged in to facebook. This is first time I’ve posted using the facebook connect stuff…and hadn’t realized that those other “Facebook User”’s that I had seen before were not the same person. Anyone know what the security setting is in facebook to allow it to show your name and picture to the public?
I don’t think it’s in the security settings, it’s in your app settings. Check there.
Perhaps if we get them that young, they will be used to digital “print” media so that when they get up to college age, they will be comfortable with not taking notes in their textbooks, putting a sticky on the page or crimping the corner. . .all of which marginalizes most PDFs or e-readers for academic uses.
which is kinda a shame, although I still don’t like the Kindle for it’s single-purpose-but-higher-price-than-a-netbook crap.
Cali, I’m not so sure I’d agree that “getting kids used to digital print” is such a worthy effort. Paper-based reading offers advantages that digital cannot in much the same way that handwritten notetaking is far superior to keying notes on a notebook PC – the means in which notes are taken matters as much as the content.
Your comment keys into the bigger issue of the perceived benefits of tech literacy. There’s almost no evidence to support the assumption that computers in the classroom boost student achievement. More than any specific technical literacy, critical-thinking, problem-solving, and rationality are skills that are really worth fostering. Those will help your child lay the foundation for a sustainable future.
I agree with you, Rob. I’m on the “wrong” side of our Kindle program and continually point to the demand for our free printing (I run the ResNet and labs at a college in SoCal) and the reasons for it. . .
although I do take better meeting notes with my little Mini12 and OneNote than I do if I have to scribble. :D
I absolutely agree with you on literacy (we call it Fluency – and it differs from Literacy).
:D
This is a web-based rehash of what Broderbund (does any one remember this comapny?) had 15 years ago called Living Books. The “Living Books” series was CD-ROM based, I grew up on Grandma & Me title. Several other titles followed. Disney tried to produce a few, could not compete against the Living Books series.
Our kids are already natives to the digital world – they are growing up in a digital learning universe. I am not trying to spam, please take a look at http://www.readinglogs.com – has everything Disney offers and much more. (Dictionary access, text to speech) – this is for use in a class room environment. Helps promote vocabulary and spelling skills too.
At LittleHeroes.com, eBooks constitute about a third of our purchases. In fact, when parents buy the hard or soft cover paper book, they often buy the digital version as well.
It’d be interesting to see some research on whether a child’s ability to read is influenced at all by the medium on which they read more or learned to read.
Wasn’t there a demo at TC50 that was quite similar to this?
Seems like a good idea to me. I wish the price was a little better ($40/year seems more reasonable to me). I use Safari books for technical reference material and it works fine. Disney is just using that idea for kids books. The child is still reading so what’s the difference? Paper book or little netbook on the lap seems like little difference to me.
It makes me wonder if books will exist in the same way that classical music and opera exist today, in that a fraction of the educated class finds it to be a refined, involved pleasure, which the rest of the world does not enjoy because those things have a learning curve.
I read to my kids almost every day from my iPhone (Kindle App) but I could not imagine using my laptop for this. Not to mention the fact that I agree with you about these stories being advertisements. Reading from the iPhone or a Kindle is more like a book. My daughters can sit in my lap. They can turn the pages. When they’re sitting on the floor, I can show them the occasional picture and they love it, but I can’t imagine doing this with my laptop.
BTW, Apple needs a feature to “partially” lock the iPhone so I can hand it to my 4yo daughter without fear she’ll call 911 or the office. I let her play Sally’s Spa while the younger girls take a nap but only after I enable airplane mode but that’s not 100%. I guess I could get a iPod Touch and not enter the WiFi code, but that’s a little extreme for a $5 game.
@Mitch: sorry to make the suggestion of buying yet another thing, but an iPod Touch can’t make calls but *can* play games / use apps, so that might be an option.
@Facebook User, who wrote: “Even when reading dead trees, they seem to have a need to connect that reading with other creative activities.” This is an essential point, but also one that is in no way new. For so long as I’ve read, I’ve wanted to think, comment on, write about, talk about, and draw things inspired by what I read. We already have to do a great deal of co-creation when reading. How a character in a book looks to me is unique to me, for example. So, going further: the writing of fan fiction as a juvenile or drawing how we imagine characters look has always been an outlet for that.
Use airplane mode
You obviously have something against Disney or some sort of bias. This is great news. My kids and I love Disney books and now we can get them online now and it encourages them to read and write. Disney brings some of the most creative content to the world and children. It inspires kids and adults to imagine and create. What’s wrong with that? Trying to reach out in any medium possible. It’s great! Two thumbs up for Disney.
Not liking this site is not the same as not liking Disney. I agree with John’s post and we love Disney! In fact we go to Disney World at least once a year for at least a week at a time.
That said, we do monitor and limit our girls’ intake of Disney. I don’t want my kids on the computer, I want them reading books and playing outside (yes I’m a hypocrite). I know they’ll love doing things on the computer, it’s designed to be enjoyable, but I work hard to make reading books, playing outside, using their imagination, etc… habits for them. Once those are fully in place, I’ll ease up on the technology stuff. Until then, I’ll take reading a book to my girls over a website any day.
(And yes I am conflicted about using the iPhone/Kindle when reading to my kids: 4, 2 1/2, and 1 with #4 on the way!)
Can’t find it now, but I read an article where the PC has been credited with skyrocketing literacy rates among the upcoming generation, and anything that encourages MORE READING can’t be all bad.
That said, Disney’s implementation leaves a lot to be desired, but I don’t think you can fault the intent.
I think this is a great idea. Think of all the times that you’re away from home, but still have your computer with you. Instead of having to lug around a ton of books (since these books get read so quickly too), you only have to carry the computer. It’s an archaic version of the Kindle for Kids.
I don’t think your rant is misplaced in the least – this is little more than Disney leveraging their way into a new market. There’s nothing inherently wrong with the content, but I really dislike the never-ending efforts of companies like this to shape kids into digital consumers. I suppose their shareholders appreciate their marketing persistence & effectiveness, but that doesn’t mean I do.
And my frustration with Disney specifically is how they bank on their wholesome image, yet promote (and profit handsomely off of) inappropriately-racy stuff like Miley Cyrus.
You seem to have somwthing against digital content. Love it or hate it, this is the future. If you have kids, you’d do them a favour by not letting your fear of change hold them back from being citizens of their time.
The rise of ebooks is evidence that paper books are dead, just as surely as the CD killed the LP. All content will be digital and interactive in your kids’ world. Your duty as a parent is to prepare them for the world they will live in- not the one you grew up in.
And Miley Cyrus is inappropriately racy? Dude. It’s targeted at tweens- girls between childhood and teenage, on the verge of beginning the journey to womanhood. Sorry if that scares you, but your daughter(s) will be women one day. Miley Cyrus is a wholesome, balanced way to ease them along that transition.
Itochu,
Wow, there are just SO many things wrong with your comments…
Right, as a 20+ year veteran in the IT field, yeah, I have a grudge against digital content. No, digital is fine, if it actually provides value. But digital for the sake of digital – or because it’s the cool, trendy thing that everyone else is doing – is NOT fine.
Miley Cyrus may be targeted at tweens, but she’s a trampy 15 yr old girl who wears pushup bras and posed nearly naked on the cover of an adult-targeted magazine. How does that not equate to inappropriately racy? Lord, I can only guess that you’re not the father of girls if you honestly believe Miley Cyrus to be a wholesome, balanced version of a teen-aged girl.
F. Disney hasn’t done anything interesting in the online space except buy Club Penguin…. This is another fail.
Hi – Living Books (please see earlier post) by Broderbund was a big success. What Disney is offering is a web version of the same. I will not be surprised if this becomes a big hit.
All else fails, bring in hanna montana – digitally autographed digital books – 1.0 Billion a year potential (at least) and recession proof.
Commenter 728’s remarks struck a chord with me: PRINT books the realm of the ELITE? When a print book is either free at the library, or absurdly cheap compared to the cost of an MP3 player, laptop, or Kindle?
People who scream about the demise of the print book tend to forget that electronica is still a heck of a lot more of a “privileged class” endeavor than a print book will ever be…and there are a lot of children AND adults in this country who can’t own technology because they’re struggling to feed themselves.
Perhaps, as the cost of technologies drops, this will change. For now, though, print is far, far less “elite” than digital. And heaven help us if we forget that.
Great point – moreover, that “free” book feels pretty expensive when your kid dunks your iphone in a bowl of Cheerios.
E-format is a great supplement to paper books in the children’s lit space, but there is too much custom and ritual (i.e. bedtime stories) around the traditional hard copy to see its demise any time soon, IMO.
At its core there are a lot of interesting features in this product, and the presentation is remarkably polished (it is Disney, after all). But… as with most organizations with mature marketing groups, the messaging is so complex and cumbersome I was lost almost the moment I entered the site.
Given the deep pockets, I’m sure they can make this successful with enough money and attention.
I like the set up, however I check another site call http://www.bookteller.com has same idea as Disney, but with 250+ animation books with voice from diferent illustrators, authors and publishers all over the world, only $9.99 per month with additional month free if you sign up now. I believe the market is big enough, since it is new to all perents, and I like the other one, It is very simple and children can offline to read, which save my time, and some one read for them, they can learn.
I believe Disney with deep pocket will success, but how about other nice and wonderful books. The market needs other alternative choice for parents. I do not want my kids only have Disney cluture for his or her childhood. he or she need to explore in different view point.
Kids are digital natives. I like Disney’s foray into this medium. How is a book on the computer worse than Webkinz or Littlest Pets. Understanding what customers want and giving it to them has always ben Disney’s strong point. I love the digital world of reading and yet I have 8 books from the library beside me as I write this.
Options.. it’s all about options.
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