Tap, Click, Read: Growing Readers in a World of Screens - Paperback

by Lisa Guernsey (Author)

A guide to promoting literacy in the digital age

With young children gaining access to a dizzying array of games, videos, and other digital media, will they ever learn to read? The answer is yes--if they are surrounded by adults who know how to help and if they are introduced to media designed to promote literacy, instead of undermining it. Tap, Click, Read gives educators and parents the tools and information they need to help children grow into strong, passionate readers who are skilled at using media and technology of all kinds--print, digital, and everything in between.

In Tap, Click, Read authors Lisa Guernsey and Michael H. Levine envision a future that is human-centered first and tech-assisted second. They document how educators and parents can lead a new path to a place they call 'Readialand'--a literacy-rich world that marries reading and digital media to bring knowledge, skills, and critical thinking to all of our children. This approach is driven by the urgent need for low-income children and parents to have access to the same 21st-century literacy opportunities already at the fingertips of today's affluent families.With stories from homes, classrooms and cutting edge tech labs, plus accessible translation of new research and compelling videos, Guernsey and Levine help educators, parents, and America's leaders tackle the questions that arise as digital media plays a larger and larger role in children's lives, starting in their very first years of life.

Tap, Click, Read includes an analysis of the exploding app marketplace and provides useful information on new review sites and valuable curation tools. It shows what to avoid and what to demand in today's apps and e-books--as well as what to seek in community preschools, elementary schools and libraries. Peppered with the latest research from fields as diverse as neuroscience and behavioral economics and richly documented examples of best practices from schools and early childhood programs around the country, Tap, Click, Read will show you how to:

• Promote the adult-child interactions that help kids grow into strong readers
• Learn how to use digital media to build a foundation for reading and success
• Discover new tools that open up avenues for creativity, critical thinking, and knowledge-building that today's children need

The book's accompanying website keeps you updated on new research and provides vital resources to help parents, schools and community organizations.

Front Jacket

ADVANCE PRAISE FOR TAP, CLICK, READ

Finally, the 'everything book' has been created for understanding the digital age and children's literacy! Our tour guides for this journey--Lisa Guernsey and Michael Levine--narrate the journey in such an engaging and fun way, you won't be able to put this book down. It is the perfect, must-read book for the digital age!
--Ellen Galinsky, President and Co-Founder, Families and Work Institute, author, Mind in the Making

In Tap, Click, Read, Lisa Guernsey and Michael Levine give educators and parents what they so urgently need--an authoritative, evidence-based guide to the ever-growing and ever-changing realm of children's digital media. In clear, accessible prose the authors lay out for us how to choose and use today's technological resources to help children master that most important traditional skill: reading. Guernsey and Levine have done a tremendous service to parents, teachers--and children--with this book.
--Annie Murphy Paul, author, Brilliant: The New Science of Smart

Wow--what a smart and timely book! Every early childhood teacher, parent, and policymaker who seeks to stay afloat in a sea of innovation and technology, and who cares about improving the opportunity to learn for ALL, should devour Tap, Click, Read.
--Karen Cator, President and CEO, Digital Promise, former Director, US Office of Educational Technology

A must read for all parents, teachers, and their digitally savvy kids. Tap, Click, Read is a superb example of 'edible science' that is accessible, digestible and usable. With a beautifully written synthesis of cutting-edge technology and current research, Guernsey and Levine show us how to rethink learning in a digital age.
--Kathy Hirsh-Pasek, PHD, co-author, Einstein Never Used Flashcards, Stanley and Debra Lefkowitz Faculty Fellow and Director of the Infant Language Laboratory at Temple University

Tap, Click, Read is equally adept at navigating, translating, and boldly advancing a new vision for literacy in a digital age. Illuminating great research with an array of wonderful stories, Guernsey and Levine help the reader appreciate the landscape of a brave new world they inventively call Readialand. Rather than leaving us to wander unaided across uncertain terrain, they provide a user friendly playbook to drive needed changes in communities across the nation.
--Ralph Smith, Senior Vice President, Annie E. Casey Foundation and Managing Director, Campaign for Grade-Level Reading

Back Jacket

ADVANCE PRAISE FOR TAP, CLICK, READ

"Finally, the 'everything book' has been created for understanding the digital age and children's literacy! Our tour guides for this journey--Lisa Guernsey and Michael Levine--narrate the journey in such an engaging and fun way, you won't be able to put this book down. It is the perfect, must-read book for the digital age!"
--Ellen Galinsky, President and Co-Founder, Families and Work Institute, author, Mind in the Making

"In Tap, Click, Read, Lisa Guernsey and Michael Levine give educators and parents what they so urgently need--an authoritative, evidence-based guide to the ever-growing and ever-changing realm of children's digital media. In clear, accessible prose the authors lay out for us how to choose and use today's technological resources to help children master that most important traditional skill: reading. Guernsey and Levine have done a tremendous service to parents, teachers--and children--with this book."
--Annie Murphy Paul, author, Brilliant: The New Science of Smart

"Wow--what a smart and timely book! Every early childhood teacher, parent, and policymaker who seeks to stay afloat in a sea of innovation and technology, and who cares about improving the opportunity to learn for ALL, should devour Tap, Click, Read."
--Karen Cator, President and CEO, Digital Promise, former Director, US Office of Educational Technology

"A must read for all parents, teachers, and their digitally savvy kids. Tap, Click, Read is a superb example of 'edible science' that is accessible, digestible and usable. With a beautifully written synthesis of cutting-edge technology and current research, Guernsey and Levine show us how to rethink learning in a digital age."
--Kathy Hirsh-Pasek, PHD, co-author, Einstein Never Used Flashcards, Stanley and Debra Lefkowitz Faculty Fellow and Director of the Infant Language Laboratory at Temple University

"Tap, Click, Read is equally adept at navigating, translating, and boldly advancing a new vision for literacy in a digital age. Illuminating great research with an array of wonderful stories, Guernsey and Levine help the reader appreciate the landscape of a brave new world they inventively call Readialand. Rather than leaving us to wander unaided across uncertain terrain, they provide a user friendly playbook to drive needed changes in communities across the nation."
--Ralph Smith, Senior Vice President, Annie E. Casey Foundation and Managing Director, Campaign for Grade-Level Reading

Author Biography

LISA GUERNSEY is a journalist and director of the Early Education Initiative and the Learning Technologies Project at New America.

MICHAEL H. LEVINE, PHD, is a child development and policy expert and founding director of the Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Workshop.