For the 5-and-under crowd, ebooks simply cannot compare to the paper book experience. Color, size, the physical act of page turning, and (for the littlest ones) texture are too important.
However, my 8yo is in the process of earning his own e-reader. At this point, he's past the sparkly, fuzzy, pop-up, colorful books and on to chapter books (which are printed in simple black on cheap paper anyway), so nothing is lost. He's very responsible with electronics, and the idea of having something so grown-up has really helped him get over his reading anxiety and become an enthusiastic reader.
The portability is a big benefit for him, too... it's nice to let him easily take his reading with when he gets shipped off to his grandparents' farm on breaks from school, or we run off somewhere together.
The main down-side, from my perspective, is that on an ereader, I can't let him take his books to school. It's too easy to have an item like that stolen, stepped on, spilled on, dropped -- you get the idea -- in a hectic 2nd grade classroom.
However, my 8yo is in the process of earning his own e-reader. At this point, he's past the sparkly, fuzzy, pop-up, colorful books and on to chapter books (which are printed in simple black on cheap paper anyway), so nothing is lost. He's very responsible with electronics, and the idea of having something so grown-up has really helped him get over his reading anxiety and become an enthusiastic reader.
The portability is a big benefit for him, too... it's nice to let him easily take his reading with when he gets shipped off to his grandparents' farm on breaks from school, or we run off somewhere together.
The main down-side, from my perspective, is that on an ereader, I can't let him take his books to school. It's too easy to have an item like that stolen, stepped on, spilled on, dropped -- you get the idea -- in a hectic 2nd grade classroom.