by Ann-Rhea S. Fitch, Bookpx
I struggled with reading as a child. The fact that I was a bit dyslexic and was also learning to read in two languages at once (one left-to-right and the other right-to-left) certainly didn’t help. And I was (and still am) ADHD. When I was a kid, we didn’t have such terms—I was just considered “lazy.” Every distraction took my attention in many directions at once.
Years—okay, decades!—later, I love to read and am grateful for all the knowledge I’ve gained through the printed and electronic page. I’m never without reading material. I may not read as fast as others, but I read and read and read. On my iPhone, iPad, computer, books, magazines, whatever. I am writing this on my iPad while flying to a meeting, and I am amazed at the number of people staring into space: not reading; not listening to music; not working; not sleeping. Just staring. Why? I wonder. Be productive, I want to shout! Learn something! Do something! But, I just sit and write, again grateful for the teachers who hung in there with me in those early years. Their perseverance got me through grade school and high school. The tools they taught me got me through college, and I soared through graduate school. Thank you all for the greatest gifts: the ability to read and write.
I’ve mostly learned to manage my ADHD, though my husband may often disagree! Today’s technology is a double-edged sword. My iPad has books, productivity apps, games, puzzles, email, news and, and, and… I can surf the web—even on this flight, there’s Wifi. I can look at anything I want. I can jump from one thing to another, never staying on anything that doesn’t capture and keep my attention. So I wonder IF this would have been a good thing for me when I was a kid.
I think what would this do to a classroom. Would teachers have to limit children’s access in order to control their learning? Could free thought prevail? Would chaos reign?
And then I think about the books we have created at Bookpx. Would these have held my attention as a child? Yup. Because they are short, focused, with nice pictures (if I must say so myself) and entertaining rhymes (thanks, Lori). I could read one of the books in our Nature Series for Kids and feel a sense of accomplishment. And, with the Multimedia Enhanced eBooks for Kids series, aimed at preschoolers, I could listen to each page and watch the videos. Yup, I would have loved these books. And, teachers would love them, too, since they could use these books to teach kids about some of natures most remarkable creatures.
All that said, I hope you’ll check out our books for your kids and classrooms. We know there is a lot of material out there and more distractions than ever before; I hope ours are positive ones!
Ann-Rhea Fitch is a wildlife photographer and partner in Bookpx, publisher of environmentally conscious eBooks for kids. The Nature Series for Kids is available for all eReaders capable of displaying color eBooks, including computers. The Multimedia Enhanced eBooks for Kids are exclusively available from the Apple iBookstore. The web site is http://www.bookpx.com
