I took to e-books and e-reading like a teen to texting. But I know a lot of people are resisting the change. They often say they would miss the feel of a book in their hands, or the smell of the paper. I’ve wondered what effect e-readers will have on the children’s book industry. Children aren’t intimidated by new technology, and they don’t tend to have the emotional connection to paper books that many adults do. Still, no matter how much a child likes to read on an iPad, not many can cruise down to the Apple store and pick one up on their own.

So I turned the radio up in the car when NPR played a story about the future of children’s books. The gist was that if you give a young child the choice of a children’s e-book on an iPad and a traditional book, they will go for the iPad version every time. And according to the story, children’s e-books can be even more educational due to the ability to make them interactive. Of course, it all depends on how the technology is used. (Parents can actually impede children’s learning with e-books by being too bossy, or too hands-off)

NPR host Mary Louise Kelly asked Dan Poynter, a consultant and publisher at Para Publishing, if he thought anything would be lost by giving up on printed children’s books. His answer was basically, “nope” (apart from jobs in the printing and publishing industries.) The story concluded by saying our homes will be devoid of bookshelves in the next thirty years, except as places to display a few prized printed books among our other pieces of rare art.

What do you think? Are you ready to empty your bookshelves, especially in your children’s rooms?