When I was a kid, the worst punishment my mom could dish out was to take away my book. I had my nose in one pretty much all the time — on the bus, at the breakfast table, under the covers with a flashlight. Mom claimed I was neglecting everything else — homework, chores, playing outside — in favor of reading a good book. I said she should be delighted to have a daughter who loved reading so much. We never did learn to see eye-to-eye on this topic.
One of my favorite parts of being a parent has been introducing my daughter to my favorite childhood books and all the things that come along with being a book lover. Visiting the library, browsing the bookstore, watching Reading Rainbow on PBS — she’s been doing those things since she was an infant. By the time she came along, she was already the proud owner of a bookshelf overflowing with kids’ classics old and new, and I’ve been reading to her since well before she was old enough to understand a word I was saying. Now that she’s six and becoming a good reader herself, I love watching her enjoy books on her own terms and discover her own childhood favorites. I hope that someday she finds as much joy as I have in introducing her children to reading.
As someone who still believes, deep down in my soul, that books should be made of paper, I’ve had a 
difficult time embracing the world of ebooks for myself, much less my child. And then to hear that my beloved LeVar Burton has taken Reading Rainbow <gasp> DIGITAL with an app? I wasn’t sure what planet I was on. But as a writer and editor at Smart Apps For Kids, I’ve seen for myself what a good ebook should look like, and as I’ve watched my daughter enjoy interactive ebooks, through Reading Rainbow’s fabulous app and others, I’ve realized that she isn’t losing a thing. She’s getting the same enjoyment from them that I did at her age, AND she’s getting some things I never got: text highlighting to help out with the “hard words,” expert narration, and interactive elements that bring the story to life. And she still has LeVar to lead the way. Some things haven’t changed at all.
Oddly enough, my favorite ebooks for kids have turned out to be the classic ones — the stories from my childhood as well as new classics from recent years that I always thought I would want my daughter to have in well-worn paper form alone. She does indeed have them on her bookshelf, but now they’re on her digital shelf, too, and she loves both versions equally. In addition to all the Reading Rainbow ebooks that we love so much, here are some of our favorites:
Goodnight Moon — Margaret Wise Brown’s classic is just as soothing and great for bedtime today as it was in 1947. The ebook preserves all of Clement Hurd’s beautiful illustrations, and the added animations make the reader linger over each one to savor the details. And you actually get to HEAR the old lady whispering “hush.” How cool is that?
iPad/iPhone, $4.99:
Guess How Much I Love You: The Adventures of Little Nutbrown Hare — 
This app lets kids share two new adventures with Little Nutbrown Hare, and brings the familiar characters to life beautifully. Not an ebook as much as a mini-film based on Sam McBratney’s characters. When my daughter first met the characters in the app, she said, “Mom! They talk like they’re from England!” Clearly the characters in her head from the original book did not.
iPad only, FREE for a limited time:
Green Eggs and Ham — Dr. Seuss’ classic is one of the first books my daughter was able to read on her own, so it holds an even more special place in my heart today than it did when I was a kid. This one doesn’t include any animation (making it more like an actual paper book), but if the reader touches an image, the corresponding word appears over it.
iPad/iPhone, $3.99:
Don’t Let the Pigeon Run This App! — If you’re not familiar with Mo 
Willems’ nutty Pigeon, get yourself to the library and meet him. The app isn’t a retelling of the story, but rather a chance for your kid to create his own Pigeon story. Designed for kids of all ages to enjoy, regardless of ability to read, this app has led to some of my favorite moments with my daughter lately. Truly a must-have.
iPad/iPhone, $5.99:
The iPad may be our new medium for reading stories together, but some things remain the same: reading together means quality time together, and building a love of books, electronic or otherwise, is still one of the most important gifts a parent can give to a child. Whether you’re a lover of paper books or digital ones, I hope these options will prove to be wonderful additions to your bookshelf.
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Emilie wrote this piece for the Reading Rainbow blog and they agreed to let her repost it here. She has a small obsession with LeVar Burton.
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