Tap, Click, Read: Growing Readers in a World of Screens

by Lisa Guernsey, Michael H. Levine

A guide to promoting literacy in the digital age With young children gaining access to a dizzying array of games, videos, and other digital media, will they ever learn to read? The answer is yes--if they are surrounded by adults who know how to help and if they are introduced to media designed to promote literacy, instead of undermining it. Tap, Click, Read gives educators and parents the tools and information they need to help children grow into strong, passionate readers who are skilled at using media and technology of all kinds--print, digital, and everything in between.

In Tap, Click, Read authors Lisa Guernsey and Michael H. Levine envision a future that is human-centered first and tech-assisted second. They document how educators and parents can lead a new path to a place they call 'Readialand'--a literacy-rich world that marries reading and digital media to bring knowledge, skills, and critical thinking to all of our children. This approach is driven by the urgent need for low-income children and parents to have access to the same 21st-century literacy opportunities already at the fingertips of today's affluent families.With stories from homes, classrooms and cutting edge tech labs, plus accessible translation of new research and compelling videos, Guernsey and Levine help educators, parents, and America's leaders tackle the questions that arise as digital media plays a larger and larger role in children's lives, starting in their very first years of life.

Tap, Click, Read includes an analysis of the exploding app marketplace and provides useful information on new review sites and valuable curation tools. It shows what to avoid and what to demand in today's apps and e-books--as well as what to seek in community preschools, elementary schools and libraries. Peppered with the latest research from fields as diverse as neuroscience and behavioral economics and richly documented examples of best practices from schools and early childhood programs around the country, Tap, Click, Read will show you how to:

Promote the adult-child interactions that help kids grow into strong readers Learn how to use digital media to build a foundation for reading and success Discover new tools that open up avenues for creativity, critical thinking, and knowledge-building that today's children need The book's accompanying website keeps you updated on new research and provides vital resources to help parents, schools and community organizations.

Genres: Parenting, Nonfiction, Education, Books About Books

304 pages, Paperback

First published August 14, 2015

Reviews

[Carly · Rating 5 out of 5]

I bought this book as a children's media producer, but ended up loving it as a parent as well! Tap, Click, Read is a must-have for anyone who is interested in learning how to take advantage of the screens that their kids love so much to promote literacy. Easy to read and understand, authors Michael Levine and Lisa Guernsey provide tangible suggestions and tools on how to use digital media to help children become proficient readers and develop a love of reading.

[Kris Patrick · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you only read one chapter, read Ch. 6 The Apps Explosion, or what I would rename the crappy apps chapter.

[Bri (readingknitter) · Rating 4 out of 5]

For more, check out: http://girlwithabookblog.com!

This book satisfied my itch to productively read for work! Soon, I'll be beginning a project that examines how educational programming (including television, apps, websites, and digital games) influences literacy skills so this book was a perfect primer for helping me frame my thinking around literacy and digital screens. In fact, I've recommend this book to all of my coworkers who will be embarking upon a literacy project with me.

Tap, Click, Read serves as a great overview of many current research studies which examine the intersection of literacy and emerging technologies. Since I wasn't familiar with many of the existing literacy studies, the book was immensely helpful in furthering my knowledge base. The book would also be a great read for anyone who works with mediating media or books for young children, educators, librarians, caregivers, and family members so that they can learn ways to encourage positive reading habits and intellectual curiosity within the young children in their lives. While I was highlighting portions of the book that I found particularly interesting, I found half of my highlights to be work-related and the other half to be reading tips that I wanted to relay to my brother, who is the new father of a 3 month old. As far as being a book centered around research, I found it to be very accessible and not daunting or full of academic jargon.

Though as a researcher, I unfortunately had some pet peeves when it came to reading the print version of this book. I make that distinction because I think the digital version had more features (such as the ability to click on notes in the book and watch videos that tied into certain sections). Instead of traditional footnotes or endnotes to link to citations or clarifications, the book features "Notes" at the end of each chapter that are organized by chunks of words that appear in the chapter. As someone who was very interested in seeing any citations and clarifications, I found this extremely annoying because it would have forced me to constantly toggle between the text and Notes to see if anything was included. This made it extremely difficult for me to be able to follow up independently on any specific studies that were mentioned in order to make my own opinion about their findings, which may have been an intentional choice by the authors or the editor.

I also noted a small error in the description of one of the studies included, which mentioned that Ice Age was a film from Disney: it's not, it's from Blue Sky Studios, 20th Century Fox, HIT Entertainment, and 20th Century Fox Animation. While this is a very simple mistake, it made me wonder if other bigger and less obvious mistakes existed within the book that would be difficult to find because of the annoying Notes style.

Despite my pet peeves, I thoroughly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in thinking about how literacy is evolving for young children due to the emergence of new technologies and how we can continue to continue to prioritize literacy in the home, classroom, community, and digital sphere.

[Oliver Hodson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't want my review to be too much about what I wanted this book to be but wasn't, but let me say that as a secondary educator, I wanted it to be about making meaning from or sorting web based texts in whatever media format, and learning from apps. Secondary felt almost out of bounds and I'm thinking 0-8 is all that matters!

There were some nice stories and messages about sharing media between adults and kids is a great way to learn and relevance increases literacy ability- kids who like baseball are better at understanding texts about baseball than good readers who don't know anything about baseball.

I also like how it made me think about how to cue in iPad or digital devices for kids as it has to be mediated for it to be worthwhile- even if you make it independent later.
It was a really interesting observation that books in a house reinforce reading and literacy, but a device, even though it can, doesn't reinforce literacy to kids- for them it is an electronic box which can do lots of different things, so if its going to help learning it will be because of the experience they hace with the device.

[Stephanie Dua · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is the definitive resource for parents and educators alike in navigating literacy in today's digital world. Lisa Guernsey and Michael Levine demystify the confusing claims, fears, and choices that parents and educators regularly confront. Their simple and compelling framework will help the reader make the best informed choices on the behalf of our youngest learners. "Tap, Click, Read" leaves you feeling hopeful for the future of reading and education.

[Elaine · Rating 5 out of 5]

So many good points in this book. It should be required reading for all librarians. I was surprised to find, though, that I had already heard of/read almost every study mentioned. I guess that means I'm doing a good job on my professional reading!

[Erin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I somehow never reviewed this even though I finished it awhile ago. Great book to get you thinking about early literacy in the digital age.

[Liz Kolb · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent! An important read for parents and teachers trying to understand how to select apps and use screen time for positive learning gains.

[Sara Norwood · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wanted to like Tap, Click, Read much more than I did. While the book was an interesting read, the amount of practical advice for those in the trenches with young kids and screens was quite small. As someone who is both a parent and an educator, I was hoping the book would have been filled with tips and activities that could be implemented immediately. Instead, most of the book summarized different programs that are in place around the country, and how the families in those programs learned the importance of communicating with their children about what the children were seeing on their screens. I had been hoping for more of a hands-on activity guide for how an educator or librarian could utilize the ever-present screens to enhance literacy programs. The chapter that focused on apps was helpful because it offered the kind of information I was looking for. However, technology changes so rapidly that some of the things that were cutting-edge at publication time (2015) are no longer in existence.

I did appreciate the URLs in the book that linked to videos. It was nice to be able to see some of the programs in action. I would have liked a lot more of these videos, plus other interactive content. It would be great if the publishers linked to a webpage with their recommended apps/websites/ebooks for kids, and that list was updated frequently. Parents and educators are constantly looking for quality tools to enhance their child’s literacy skills. Few have unlimited time to search for this information on their own, so having a curated list of quality screen-related tools would be such a time-saver. The less time a parent has to spend looking for the tool, the sooner they can get started using it as they interact with their child.

[Christen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is an opening to a conversation that anyone working with children or technologies should be a part of. The main focus of this book is empowering parents of infants, toddlers, and preschoolers on how to build the necessary literacy skills (reading literacy and digital literacy) to promote success for their children. Learning is everywhere...not just the classroom. It begins at home long before kindergarten. This book explores how can society provide parents the tools and information they need to foster rich literacy opportunities in their own home.

This book offers so many insightful observation about where we stand in the digital age and where we need to go. There is much controversy about digital vs print. Computers vs paper. This book argues that it is not an either or situation. Children NEED to learn to read and children NEED to navigate the media and digital technologies of today and the future. All of that begins at a very young age. Without judgement, this book considers research, programs, and tools available on how best to support parents and families in the home.

There is valuable information to glean in the book (which by the way is available in 3 different media forms) for parents, educators, librarians, administration, tech developers, policy makers, and anyone else invested in our future generation.

As a teacher this was eye opening but also a little disheartening. I am deeply invested in promoting literacy but I have a hard time reaching parents of students I know let alone parents of future students that I don’t yet know? There are steps I can, and will take, but the issues presented in the book require us all to work together.

[Becca · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tap, Click, Read is a book about how children need an adult to interact with them in all formats of reading for a child to really learn how to read. Technology is not a replacement for teaching children to read but a tool to be utilized by the parents to empower them to interact more with their children through literacy tools. This book was full of cool technologies and programs that were developed on the small scale. However, there was very little practical application aspects for parents, teachers, and librarians to utilize to encourage early literacy. It was more a book about becoming aware of the importance of caregiver interaction with young children as they learn to read and to empower parents to do that interactive.

[Cathy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book contains a lot of good information. As the authors state, there is a very brief explanation of how children learn to read. The premise of the book is that reading is fundamental but educators must expand their instruction to include technology.

I had trouble determining who the audience was for this book. It seemed to try to address parents, education, policy makers and technology developers. I'm not sure it was successful on all fronts.

[Julia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good to have on my bookshelf since I care a lot about using books and media well with A. Lots of resources about finding quality books and media for A. Plenty of websites and organizations to follow.

[Gerry · Rating 5 out of 5]

very interesting

[Elizabeth Gray · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good policy book. Using the bibliography

[He Sun · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fantastic book to introduce e-learning in early childhood education

[Samantha · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good look at technology in young children's lives, and how we can help parents navigate it.

[Angela · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great accumulation of information for parents, caregivers, teachers, librarians, and anyone involved in a child's literacy during their upbringing.

[Alissa Tsaparikos · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is easy to read and brings into focus many important points about digital literacy, media use, and the importance of preparing children for a present and future that is filled with technology from the moment we wake to the moment we go to bed. There was also a really invigorating discussion about digital literacy as an essential part of capital L Literacy and how these two literacies should be seen hand in hand rather than a separate idea, or that digital literacies are lesser. In fact this book posits in more than one way that digital literacy is essential for success and can help strengthen Literacy in general.

There were some excellent points that were brought up about socio-economic factors and how children in lower income households are often not able to sharpen digital literacies. Recent research (as of the publication of this book) is used throughout the book to highlight ways to promote digital literacy in young children.

Overall it was a very informative book and a useful read. As a librarian I was hopeful that there would be more time given to actual down to earth tips and lessons on how parents and educators can promote digital literacy on their own. However, sadly this did not come up for the most part. There is a very small part (a few pages) at the end that touch on this but only in vague terms. For the most part I feel that this book is most helpful for other researchers, nonprofits, or organizations who can make waves on a larger scale than a single librarian. Many of the case studies focused on can give the reader ideas – but they are not something that could be replicated by one person or on a small scope. At a stretch some of the ideas can be used to possibly apply to grants for program creation – however even this might be a little bit of a stretch.

Another thing to be aware of is that this text is starting to become out of date. Many resources are now defunct since the publication in 2015.

Despite the above criticisms, I still believe that the book is worth perusal because the subject is an important one. And if someone can use the examples in the book to jump off large scale initiatives, all the better!

[Emily Rozmus · Rating 4 out of 5]

While some of the information in the book was not new for me, the overall message is one that must be repeated: reading with children and interacting with them while using digital text is the key to student achievement and success. This is an important book for parents, teachers and policy makers. The idea of promoting reading across various mediums, advocating for equality in resources - whether print or digital is an idea that is new in that never before have we had such a variety of mediums, or such a disparity in accessibility to these mediums. The tips for teachers, parents and policy makers at the end are solid and when taken seriously will lead to a literate society - surely the foundation of all communities.

[Joan]

3 stars

[Elaine Bearden]

Would really like to read this thoroughly. Because it is pro-books and thinking and also skills for the future. I"m not familiar with "New America" that Lisa Guernsey is from. But Michael Levine is a founding director of the Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Workshop.