READING

Read the essay below. Then answer the questions that follow.

Pixels and Print: Effects of the Digital Age on Children's Literature

[1] The impact of the Internet and technology on children today is unavoidable: children are
increasingly immersed in the digital world through a variety of media. One of my cousins, a
happy eighteen-year-old living with Down syndrome, carries her Leap Frog Leap Pad
everywhere she goes. When she first received the Leap Pad, she had been reading well
below her grade level and hated how difficult it was for her to get through a book. The Leap
Pad provided my cousin with an opportunity to see interactions with print as fun, exciting,
and relevant: just as she loved watching her DVDs and playing computer games, she grew
to enjoy her interactive storybooks. My cousin is only one of millions of children affected by
the growth of the digital age in children's literature. The development of the digital
environment, including interactive books, graphics, websites, games, movies, and television,
has dramatically expanded the realm of children's literature and has influenced the way that
children interact with reading and language.

[2] Studies of the technology movement in children's literature began at the birth of the
Internet and continue as technology becomes more and more applicable to different formats
in children's literature. At the turn of the twenty-first century. Theory Into Practice magazine
published a series of articles entitled Expanding the Worlds of Children's Literature. In one
article, children's literature critic and technology analyst Eliza Dresang wrote about a way of
thinking she titled Radical Change, a "theoretical construct [that] identifies and explains
books with characteristics reflecting the types of interactivity, connectivity, and access that
permeate our emerging digital society (Dresang). While children are still interpreting
information through language, they are approaching these new texts with an expectation of
connections and meaning that is much different from linear, traditional texts. Dresang
explores such texts as David Macaulay's Black and White and The Stinky Cheese Man by
Jon Scieszka, books that exemplify the interconnectivity of perspectives, plots, and meaning.
Black and White is a four-paneled picture book that uses pictures and text to tell four stories
with unlimited connections. The Stinky Cheese Man is a collection of scrutinizing challenges
to classic fairy tales that requires the reader to have an understanding of the original tales, of
story structure, and of comedy. According to Dresang, the way in which children interact with
text and meaning has also shifted with the literature they read: "They are interactively and
freely organizing information and making their their own connections, not from left to right,
not from beginning to end, not in the traditional straight line, but in any order they choose
(Dresang). Children have begun to own their reading, looking actively for meaning in places
and frameworks that did not exist before the digital age.

[3] The format of the classic children's picture book has also been challenged as a result of
technology. The children's sections of modern bookstores are filled with more than bright
colors and graphics, stores sell interactive books, books with characters from TV shows,
portable audio books, books that come with stuffed animals, and books that talk back to the
reader. In 1999, historian Gloria Skurzynski described the birth of a new kind of book, the
portable electronic book that has "screens rather than pages" (Skurzynski, 1999, 179). She
writes. "They are easier to read than a laptop screen...and they advance one page at a time
with a button push rather than by scrolling". Certainly a technological leap at the time, these
portable books paved the way for other "book" formats to emerge. Eight years later, children
are clamoring for their Leapsters and Leap Pads, their books with interactive CD-roms
attached, and books downloadable to their PSP or Nintendo DS. One educator compiled a
list of technology tools that includes websites like Books Just4Me and StoryPlace: The
Children's Digital Library, which make it easy for children and parents to enjoy a children's
story without physically turning the pages (Edyburn). The BookBox website, which
guarantees "Education and Fun", allows parents to download e-Books in a variety of
languages at reasonable prices (Edyburn). Even Scholastic Inc. and other publishing
companies have sections of their websites dedicated to interactive games with students'
favorite storybook characters (Edyburn).

[4] One format in particular has librarians and bookstores rushing to fill the shelves: the
graphic novel. Bickers, asserting that publishing companies are taking what the students
want to heart, writes, "Graphix [a division of Scholastic Inc.] is arguably the first imprint
dedicated exclusively to graphic novels for kids, but it is certainly no longer the only one".
Publishers realize that putting words and pictures in a format that draws the reader through a
story as if he was watching TV or a movie is an effective way to encourage students to read:
graphic novels are now being used to retell classic literature like Beowulf or Oliver Twist as
well as popular series like Babysitter's Club and the Hardy Boys (Bickers). The Magic School
Bus series by Joanna Cole, a favorite among both teachers and students, fills pages of
scientific learning with speech bubbles, post-its, and compelling illustrations. While not
technically a comic-style graphic novel, there is very little white space in a Magic School Bus
book, and that's the way kids like it (Bickers). In addition, the Bone comic book series by Jeff
Smith, published into graphic novels for kids, is one of the most popular items in bookstores,
libraries, and book fairs across the country (Bickers).

[5] There is no denying that digital interpretations of children's literature are being
encouraged in a variety of places and media, but the effects of this digital hurricane are
under the gun in research around the world. One research project proposed that
preschoolers would benefit from digital read-alouds as opposed to the traditional print
read-aloud. Not surprisingly, the project produced favorable results. Researcher L. Collen
summarizes her interpretation of one of the project's results: "That children in the traditional
storytimes asked no picture-based questions and children in both digital storytimes did ask
picture-based questions suggests that the digital storytimes may have resulted in an
enhanced understanding of the story, based on an enhanced visual experience (Collen). In
imagining a class of preschoolers in front of a large screen, one does not need to ponder
long on how enthralled the students would be with the enlarged graphics. After all, many
preschool-aged children have already been exposed to television and other media. The
question remains whether the students were asking questions because they noticed more,
or whether the traditional read-aloud format did not adequately encourage these kinds of
questions.

[6] Continued research and reflection will be necessary if teachers, parents, and society at
large wish to determine whether the immersion in digital media that is occurring in schools
and homes across the country-and the world-is benefiting our youth. Undoubtedly, the world
is becoming more interconnected with the evolution of the Internet and an exponential
increase in communication. Children are clamoring for texts that are graphically appealing
and have an element of technology, whether it is a website they can visit, a game they can
buy, or an attached CD-rom. Books themselves are changing both in format and in content
to meet the increasing demand for interconnectivity, and children are changing as they
interact with text in multi-directional, multimedia ways.

Works Cites
●​ Bickers, J. (2007). The young and the graphic novel. Publisher's Weekly. 254(8).
Retrieved November 18, 2007 from Wilson Select Plus database.
●​ Collen, L. (2006). The digital and traditional storytimes research project: Using
digitized picture books for preschool group storytimes. Children & Libraries, 4(3).
Retrieved November 16, 2007 from Wilson Select Plus database.
●​ Dresang. E.T. & McClelland. K. (1999). Radical change: Digital age literature and
learning. Theory into Practice, 38(3). Retrieved November 18, 2007 from JSTOR
database. Edyburn, D. & Davis, D. (2007). Technology Tools for Academic Success -
Books in the Digital Age. Panhandle Area Educational Consortium. Retrieved
November 18, 2007 from http://www.paec.org/fdirstech/books.htm.
●​ Skurzynski, G. (1999). It's a wired world after all: Children, books, and the Internet.
Theory into Practice, 38(3). Retrieved November 18, 2007 from JSTOR database.

1) In paragraph [4], the author talks about graphic novels

A. to introduce a new book format.
B. to argue.
C. to provide supporting details.
D. to show how popular they are.

2) What is the argument of this essay?

A. Digital age has negatively influence the way kids interact with reading and language.
B. Digital age has changed children.
C. Digital age has affected the way kids interact with reading and language.
D. Digital age hasn't affected the way kids interact with reading and language.

3) In paragraph [4], is the reference Bickers correctly cited according to the MLA style?
“Bickers, asserting that publishing companies are taking what the students want to heart,
writes.
"Graphix [a division of Scholastic Inc.] is arguably the first imprint dedicated exclusively to
graphic novels for kids, but it is certainly no longer the only one".”
A. No. Both first name and last name of the author must be provided in the attribution, and a
citation at the end of the sentence must be provided.
B. Yes. It is correctly cited

4) In paragraph [3], how to correct the citation at the end of the sentence following the MLA
style?
“In 1999, historian Gloria Skurzynski described the birth of a new kind of book, the portable
electronic book that has "screens rather than pages" (Skurzynski, 1999, 179).”
A. Remove the page number and the year
B. Remove the author's name but keep the year and page number
C. Add the author's first name
5) In paragraph [5], is the author referenced in the following sentence correctly cited
according to the MLA style?
Researcher L. Collen summarizes her interpretation of one of the project's results:
A. No. The author's first name's initial should be removed.
B. No. The author's first name must be written in full.
6) What can be said about the Works Cites list?
A. All of the sources are correctly formatted following the MLA style.
B. None of the sources are correctly formatted following the MLA style.
C. Some of the references are correctly cited following the MLA style

7) In paragraph [2], the writer references the children's literature critic and technology analyst
Eliza Dresang …….
A to provide evidence to support the thesis statement.
B. to give credit to the source.
C. to report research findings.
D. to present the researcher's research on digital age.

WRITING
Children's exposure to digital materials, e.g., e-books, audio books, interactive books,
websites, blogs, video games, etc., has increased. What effects could this exposure have on
children's learning?
Write an effect essay of around 450 words. Use supporting details and examples to support
your essay.