From The New York Times Motherlode: Adventures in Parenting blog(Oct. 12, 2011):
In the name of encouraging my kids to read, I’ve dumped my iPad’s Kindle app.
In many ways, I loved it. Every bookshelf in our house is two deep, with stacks on nearly every surface. I liked the idea of having at least some books take a less intrusive form. But I realized that no matter what I said, when I sat down in the evening during what I’d dubbed “quiet reading time” with the iPad, my kids didn’t believe I was reading. And they were often right. . . .
A book — a real book — is one choice, taken from a pile, opened and entered as its own singular, separate world. Once chosen, you are not holding the constant opportunity to alter or improve your choice, or simply change it just for the sake of restless change. You are there, now, without the relentless pressure of the fact that you could always be, and maybe you should be, maybe you’d be happier or more productive or different, doing something else. It’s a choice I hope my kids will decide to make, often.
Read the rest of KJ DelLantonia’s essay HERE