The internet is not a fad. The web is here to stay. Online shopping, blogs, email, all these features and more will become a greater part of our lives as they evolve and innovate into a plethora of sophisticated forms. As any medium, they are malleable to the touch. We can utilize them to grow and connect or we can deny and abuse them to self destructive degrees of confusion. One thing is certain, the next generation will know them even more intimately than we do. They will take for granted what astounded us. One face of this wave of change is seen in the new trend of e books.

Aware of this phenomenon, major publishers have jumped on board, transferring the classics onto e books. Accessibility. Currently, e-books are a 35 billion dollar industry, a product of demand, adaptation, and good reason. They may not be as glamorously futuristic as the vision of flying cars, but they do harbor an incredible sense of potential and possibility. A book is a beautiful thing and always will be, neither diminished nor intimidated by the coming mediums. Scholastic’s chief academic officer, Francie Alexander, wisely notes, “We’re so lucky to live in an era when kids can have books in multiple formats. Each format offers something that the other doesn’t.”

Specifically, an e book can offer features, options, and conveniences that accommodate, comfort, and enrich its audience. In addition, an e book can be very interactive; it can be programmed to read aloud or end with a spelling quiz, engaging a book shy child with questions and sounds. For a child, an e book can not only make technology familiar but information, instant.