Books are fighting back in the face of films, computer games, eBooks and Wii. Books explaining why old-fashioned ink and paper books are good are featuring on children's bookstands this Christmas, says QUT children's literature researcher Erica Hateley.
"There's something in the air - this year books are telling their own story to a young audience. They aim to introduce children to the simple pleasure of turning pages to read a book," Dr Hateley said.
"For example, long-time children's book illustrator Lane Smith who's well known for the charming pictures in The Stinky Cheese Man has written It's a Book for 3 to 6 year olds which could just as easily be for adults.
"This book has a deceptively simple plot, a monkey hands a donkey a book. The donkey, a 'digital native', has to ask what a book does: how do you scroll down? can you blog with it? can it tweet? To which the answer is: 'It's a book'. The donkey reads the book and becomes engrossed in the great story.
"Dog Loves Books is another children's book about what books are for. It tells the story of a dog who opens a bookshop because he loves the look, feel and smell of books as they can take him to other worlds.
"This love of books leads the dog to make friends with others who share his passion - in both It's a Book and Dog Loves Books children are invited to think about reading as powerful experience for themselves and as something to be shared.
Dr Hateley said films, DVDs and computer games all had their place.
"I have great respect for films, TV and computer games but I'm not convinced they can do what books can," she said.
"Children can get a good story from all kinds of media but my gut feeling is that there is something different about reading a story. Reading calls for engagement that builds an entire world inside your head.
"It is clear that films and videos do that too but when people say 'the movie was not as good as the book' they are often identifying a mismatch between the imaginary world they constructed in their imagination as they read the book, and the visual world represented by the film.
"Books can offer young people a window to new, unfamiliar territory - a country or culture they have never been to or a mirror in which they see themselves and their own world."
Media contact: Niki Widdowson, QUT media officer, 07 3138 1841 or n.widdowson@qut.edu.au
