3 ms·

I had some of the same snobbery about audiobooks (which one could level the same criticisms at, maybe even more so). But I have tried a few recently, and have t

I had some of the same snobbery about audiobooks (which one could level the same criticisms at, maybe even more so). But I have tried a few recently, and have to admit I got a lot out of the experience, maybe even more than reading it myself in the case of some of the better narrations. I don't think your comparison to a movie adaption works at all. It is very much like reading the book - you consume the same text. The difference is maybe the 'distracting' animated illustrations, and the tendency to read in very small pieces, rather than settle down to reading chapters at a time. The last point speaks to your concentration comment, though not sure it's definitely a bad thing, certainly better than not reading at all.

shantly 7y ago
Audio books are fine but I've heard from teacher friends that a very high percentage of middle-school-aged kids now strongly resist reading without also having the audio version playing. I suspect access to such has stunted their ability to 1) sound out new words, and 2) to pick up tone, cadence et c from text alone. I find this worrying. Last year my then-kindergartener's "reading time" at school turned out largely to be having the school iPad read to her. She got worse at reading for months before we realized what was going on and how much work we'd have to do at home to undo the damage the school was inflicting. If you give them the option plus little supervision of course they'll take the easy way. Ugh.