Kids will lead the coming surge in ereader adoption, suggests the Boston Globe in an article this weekend: "This is a generation of kids that have learned to communicate, search and purchase on very small devices, like mobile phones," said James McQuivey, Forrester Research media analyst. "This year is a guinea pig year, next year the move will be en masse." In addition to being seen as non-threatening by kids, ereader prices are dropping while their capabilities continue to increase, and publishers are aggressively expanding their children's and YA ebook catalogs. Read the full article at Boston.com. ...

According to The Bookseller: Intellectual property agency 1454 has developed a new interactive children's adventure series that will be published exclusively on the Kindle worldwide. It is thought to be the first time a children's series has been produced solely for digital release. BookSurfers, written by the children's writer David Gatward, is aimed at nine to 12-year-olds and is based on the classic novels Treasure Island and The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. The four Booksurfers, Ryan, Jake, Becca and Harriet use a bespoke digital gadget called The Nautilus to jump into classic adventure stories with the reader able to use hyperlinks to connect to...

I haven't been posting a lot, lately—partly because it takes so much longer to write an article by speech than it does by typing it, and partly because I seem to be sleeping a lot more lately. This broken arm is sapping a lot of my energy. I will be having an operation next Tuesday to put a plate and screw in, and after I recover from that I should be somewhat more active. With that in mind, when I do post something, it's either going to be something that I can write very quickly, or something that I...

There is no question for me that children's books are the premier application for iPad apps in the reading area. I just couldn't resist reprinting this press release, it brings back too many memories: Random House Children’s Books (www.randomhouse.com/kids), announced today that the pat the bunny (www.rhkidsapps.com/patthebunny) interactive app is now available in the iTunes® store. Developed in collaboration with leading digital media agency Smashing Ideas, the universal app for iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch is based on Dorothy Kunhardt’s touch-and-feel children’s book classic. When pat the bunny was originally published in 1940, it was groundbreaking in its use of...

From the press release: WingedChariot, a pioneer in digital picture books, today announces plans to make its award winning multi-lingual apps for the webOS and the new HP TouchPad. Neal Hoskins, publisher at WingedChariot says: I have long admired the polish and beauty of webOS. With HP rolling out a whole ecosystem of devices running the webOS we'd love our rich and colourful children's stories to be available to HP customers. We look forward to bringing a new look and feel to our story apps on HP's webOS and to exploring the links between digital and...

From the press release: WingedChariot is the latest digital partner for Walker as part of an ongoing digital development strategy. WingedChariot, already known for its pioneering work in the digital picture book publishing arena, will work with Walker to produce interactive apps based on Walker's award-winning, best-selling children’s book properties. Both Walker and WingedChariot share a commitment to quality storytelling, multi-lingual narrative and the importance of combining language and play. This innovative partnership will allow both partners to work together to create the very best in picture book apps. Neal Hoskins, digital publisher at...

Early e-reader sales mostly ended up going to older generations of readers—the only ones who could afford to buy the highly-expensive devices. But the New York Times has an interesting article looking at the younger generation that is just beginning to get involved in e-book reading thanks to parents purchasing the devices for them as gifts. This Christmas just passed seems to have been the first in which kids started getting e-readers, and publishers have been noticing spikes in sales of children’s titles in e-book formats. Some of the sales increases have been fairly dramatic: St. Martin’s Press...

Now this is a TOC that I wish I could cover! Here's what they say about it: Registration and a new programme for the first TOC Bologna conference go live today with over 25 speakers from 7 countries. This new annual event is unique in the children's book calendar and marks an excitingnew era of digital publishing . The way children find, enjoy, play and share stories is changing and TOC Bologna sets out to bring a whole mixture of professionals together for the first time to discuss and share the ideas and events around digital books that are changing...

Got an email from Loreen Leedy who alerted me to a new site where published clildren's authors are joining together to write about transitioning to digital books. It is eisforbook. Here is what the first post says: We are a group of published children’s authors and illustrators who are interested in or are already creating digital books for kids. The premise of our name is that a book is a bookregardless of the format. With the option of interactivity within some formats, new creative possibilities are open to us. Our already-published books range from pre-school to Young Adult, so there...

That's what TUAW is reporting: Parents must be finding it easier than ever to keep kids in the backseat distracted -- Disney Publishing has hit 1 million downloads of its Disney Book Apps for the iPad, iPhone and iPod touch. Disney Publishing has 9 book apps on the App Store, all of which have been seen in the top 10 paid book apps since the iPad debuted in April. Four of the apps are currently listed in the Top 10 in the iTunes App Store Books category, with Toy Story Read-Along in the Top 5 Book Apps in 35 countries....

Shelf Awareness has an article about this today. Kirkus will have these reviews as an regular category in the publication. Alice by Lewis Carroll, illustrated by Loud Crow Interactive, developed by Atomic Antelope (Version 2.0, October 2010) Bartleby by Octopus Kite (Henrik and Denise Van Ryzin), illustrated by Henrik Van Ryzin, developed by Monster Costume (Version 1.0, September 2010) Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss, developed by Oceanhouse Media (Version 1.08, September 27, 2010) Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter, developed by Loud Crow Interactive (Version 1.2, December 5, 2010) Teddy's Day by Bruno Hachler, illustrated by Birte Muller, developed...

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