Guiding reading habits

In a digital age, parents continue to value printed books for their kids. Despite parents adopting new reading habits for themselves on electronic devices, data show that printed books remain the most used medium when it comes to their children.

On the International Children’s Book Day on April 2, Yang Ling, 35, bought her seven-year-old daughter Hans Christian Andersen’s Complete Fairy Tales as a gift. “I like buying printed books for my daughter, and hope that she can discover the joy of reading, instead of spending time gawking at digital gadgets,” she told Chinafrica.

Over the past decade, the number of children’s books published in China has been increasing, growing 26 percent last year, according to statistics recently released from the 14th Shanghai Education Expo held on April 7-9.

“Compared with superficial digital reading, paper books can bring children joy, while in-depth reading can help cultivate their critical thinking,” said Wang Zhong, President of Zhejiang Juvenile and Children’s Publishing House, who believes paper books are indispensable for children’s growth.

“I don’t recommend children to spend too much time on digital reading, as its tendency to distract attention is not beneficial to shaping their good reading habits,” echoed Professor Wang Yuguang at Peking University’s Department of Information Management. “Reading on paper enables students to read without any interruptions, and they can read and think at the same time,” he added.