Early Childhood Educ J (2013) 41:477483

DOI 10.1007/s10643-013-0575-8

Multimodal Childrens E-Books Help Young Learners in Reading

Hani Morgan

Published online: 13 February 2013

 Springer Science+Business Media New York 2013

Abstract Many children struggle with reading and are

seldom engaged in this process when teachers assign them
to read. Young learners may lack motivation to read an
dislike this activity because they have had frequently have
unpleasant experiences with reading. If educators fail to
provide support for struggling readers, these pupils will
likely experience academic problems in later years. One
strategy that instructors can implement to provide help for
students who perform poorly in reading is to teach reading
with multimodal e-books. Multimodal e-books are interactive electronic resources that combine text with sound,
animation, and images and often include text that is read
aloud and highlighted. The purpose of this article is to
discuss how teachers can use multimodal e-books to help
children make academic gains in reading and to provide
guidelines for selecting good interactive e-books. Also
included in this article is an annotated bibliography of CDROMs and e-book apps for children.
Keywords Childrens books
E-books
Reading

Instructional technology
Motivation

Reading can be especially difficult for many children.

Some children simply dislike reading and are seldom
inspired to read when teachers assign them a reading task
(Fielding and Roller 1992; Padak and Potenza-Radis 2010).
Other children have learning disabilities that prevent them
from reading as well as others (Ko et al. 2011; Wanzek and

H. Morgan (&)
Curriculum, Instruction, and Special Education, University
of Southern Mississippi, 118 College Drive #5057, Hattiesburg,
MS 39406-0001, USA
e-mail: hani.morgan@usm.edu

Kent 2012). However, even proficient readers can improve

their comprehension and make other academic gains in
reading when using effective instructional strategies
involving technology.
The purpose of this article is to recommend the use of
multimodal e-books and to provide teachers with strategies
to implement these resources effectively. A checklist for
selecting interactive e-books and an annotated bibliography
of CD-ROMs and e-book apps for children, which are
recommended by reputable sources, are included to help
educators make wise decisions involving this type of
technology.

Childrens Reading Difficulties and Motivational Issues

Children may struggle in reading for a variety of reasons.
Some lack motivation and dislike reading because they
have unpleasant experiences with the process (Padak and
Potenza-Radis 2010). Children entering kindergarten and
the early elementary grades may have had few literacy
experiences from birth onward and, as a result, exhibit poor
vocabulary development and lack an awareness of print
and literacy concepts (Lyon 2012). These children often
have limited bedtime reading exposure and may come from
homes where their parents reading levels are low. Some
students are capable of reading well but misunderstand the
purpose of reading or find the activity boring because their
schoolbooks lack characters, situations, and settings that
are connected to their lives (Brinda 2011). Students with
speech, language, hearing, or other type of disability are
another group that tends to struggle with reading (Ko et al.
2011).
Because of the many factors that prevent children from
developing into proficient readers, teachers need to apply

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research-based methods that will improve student motivation an increase the engagement of struggling readers
(Margolis and McCabe 2006). By implementing effective
reading strategies, educators can alleviate at least some of
the reading difficulties that pupils experience. Pertinent to
this discussion is the social science concept of the Matthew
effect as explained below.
The Matthew effect is a term first used by Merton (1968)
to describe a phenomenon in the field of science. Merton
coined the term when he asserted that eminent scientists
were given more credit than lesser-known scientists for
making the same discoveries. He called this specious
occurrence the Matthew effect, alluding to a biblical
passage in the Gospel according to St. Matthew: For to all
those who have, more will be given, and they will have an
abundance; but from those who have nothing, even what
they have will be taken away (Matthew 25:29).
Some reading researchers use this term, in a somewhat
analogous interpretation, to describe the struggles of early and/
or challenged readers experiences. Quirk and Schwanenflugel
(2004) say that, in reading, this idea is based on the belief that
the gap between good and poor readers often widens because
good readers tend to read more and gain skills and confidence
through additional practice, while poor readers continue to be
unsuccessful because they tend to avoid reading.
Padak and Potenza-Radis (2010) recommend providing
support for struggling readers. When teachers implement
research-based strategies designed to support struggling
readers, they often create more opportunities for academic
success, thereby leading these pupils to have more pleasant
experiences that will likely enhance their motivation.
Multimodal books serve this purpose well.

The Benefits of High-Quality Picture Books

High-quality picture books in print format benefit children in
many ways. These resources contain a balance between the
illustrations and the text so that the pictures and words are
equally important. This component makes picture books
multimodal because they promote literacy development
through a dual formatthe illustrations and the words. This
duality leads children to perceive these resources differently
from material in text format alone (Jalongo 2004). The visual
component of picture books can be especially valuable for
emergent readers and children with various types of reading
difficulties because such resources help these children to
appreciate and enjoy books, even though they have problems
with reading (Jalongo et al. 2002). Additionally, certain types
of picture books, called song picture books, have proven to be
beneficial because they promote literacy through music, and
allow many young pupils to have genuinely pleasant experiences with attempting to read (Jalongo and Ribblett 1997).

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Picture books are also beneficial because they capture

students attention with lively illustrations, provide pleasure within a stimulating context, and promote conversation through familiar experiences (Jalongo 2004; Strasser
and Seplocha 2007). Although Jalongo (2004) says that it
can be difficult to define quality as a result of differences in
opinion and changes in societal values, she offers educators
several characteristics to look for when determining quality
in picture books, including:

Aesthetically pleasing illustrations.

Flow from page to page.
Pictures that complement the text.
Accurate depiction of different racial groups.
Portrayal of girls and women as active and successful.
Portrayal of nontraditional and traditional family
structures.

The Benefits of Multimodal E-Books

Instructors who teach with multimodal e-books are able to
provide the kind of scaffolding that children with reading
difficulties need. By using e-books, teachers can help
young learners who struggle in reading to gain not only the
benefits of picture books but also other benefits. Multimodal e-books promote literacy development by providing
young learners with guidance through the use of additional
text tools (Larson 2010). Children who are already proficient in reading also benefit from e-book strategies.
Lacina and Mathews (2012) explain that when instructors allow children to use text tools on multimodal e-books,
they tend to improve in reading comprehension by getting
help in pronunciation, vocabulary, and narration. These
multimodal e-books provide visual displays of words that
help students understand vocabulary, repeated text that
allows words to be read again, and animation and sound
that help them to focus on meaning.

Differentiation of Instruction with Multimodal E-Books

Using resources that include a variety of modalities generally works well with many students (Gellevij et al. 2002).
When teachers allow young students to use technological
resources with multimodal features, they encourage them
to learn through visual, auditory, and kinesthetic formats,
and this practice is beneficial for learners because they gain
the opportunity to perceive content in many ways, and are
able to adapt them to their own preferred learning style
(Sankey et al. 2010).
Although authors describe differentiated instruction in
various ways, their approach to teaching is based, in part, on

Early Childhood Educ J (2013) 41:477483

the idea that teachers need to make adaptations regarding

how students learn (Henley et al. 2009). Using multimodal
e-books for children is one way for teachers to differentiate
instruction and to provide young pupils with the chance of
learning through many formats, rather than just one or two.
Multimodal e-books were originally designed for young
children between the ages of three and twelve, and were first
developed about 15 years ago. Using electronic childrens
books to provide instruction has helped teachers integrate
much more visual content, like video, animation, and independent images. When young learners use e-book apps,
which can be viewed on an iPad, iPod, or other type of
e-reader, they can touch the screen on their reading device in
order to activate various features. Options like this not only
encourage students to learn visually, but also kinesthetically,
because they have to use their fingers to activate the different
features of the programs. When learning with e-books,
children also have access to audio, allowing them to not only
hear music, but also narration, and the correct pronunciation
of unfamiliar words. When teachers allow children to use
these added tools, they not only provide instructional support, but also offer struggling readers more ways to comprehend the meaning of a story. Proficient readers also
benefit in reading comprehension the support of these tools.

479

Researchers suggested that young students who are

proficient in reading can also make academic gains while
using multimodal e-books. For example, Pearman (2008)
discusses how readers of CD-ROM storybooks can concentrate more on comprehension, by using features that
reduce the process of decoding words. Pearman found that
when readers have access to sound effects, they frequently
improve their comprehension as a consequence of having a
better understanding of the action and mood of a story. She
explains how one student told her what might happen in
a story after hearing the music.
Matthew (1997) compared comprehension levels
between students who read a print text and those who read
the electronic version and found that the pupils who used
the electronic version had significantly higher comprehension scores. She also noted that students were more
motivated with the electronic versions, and this effect led
them to return to their text, to reread it, and look at the
illustrations. This level of enthusiasm, however, was absent
with students who read only the print versions.
Pearmans (2008) study is consistent with Matthews
study, in that Pearman also found significantly higher
comprehension scores among second graders who read
electronic texts. Pearman found that more students were
engaged with the electronic texts than with the print version.

Research on Multimodal Childrens E-Books

Effective Implementation of Multimodal E-Books
Although researchers have done few studies on multimodal
e-books for children, also referred to as CD-ROM storybooks, online storybooks, talking books, or e-book
apps, the use of these tools appears to promote numerous
academic benefits for students, when used effectively. Several
researchers indicate that when teachers utilize these types of
e-books, struggling readers frequently improve in literacy.
Neuman (2009) notes that children at risk for reading disabilities tend to improve when exposed to more forms of
media, such as computers, television, and radio, in addition to
the printed text. Shamir and Shlafer (2011) concluded, from
their study, that children at risk for learning disabilities made
good progress in reading skills following exposure to welldesigned e-books, despite their developmental disorders.
Shamir and Baruch (2012) found that the use of one e-book
improved the vocabulary and early math skills of 52 preschoolers identified as at risk for learning disabilities.
Two researchers have shown that some features of e-books,
such as the audio and visual effects, can benefit struggling
readers. King-Sears and Evmenova (2007) discuss how
learners with reading disabilities answered more questions
correctly and read at higher levels when using the Reading
Pen, a technological tool that students can use to hear a word as
they place their pen on the word. The CD-ROMs and e-book
apps listed later in this article contain similar features.

The same text tools that are beneficial can also be distracting
to young learners when e-books are poorly-designed. Children who use e-books can become dependent on text tools;
when this occurs, they are likely to make fewer attempts at
decoding unfamiliar words or sentences on their own.
Teachers need to use e-books carefully because students
can lose focus of the story while using these resources in
some situations. Shamir and Korat (2006) contend that
hot spots, which students click on to activate sound,
animation, and video, on some e-books are poorly
designed. When students overuse hot spots which lack
congruency with a story, they make fewer academic gains
and do not improve their understanding of the narrative.
De Jong and Bus (2002) reported that kindergartners
understanding of a story was stronger when an adult read them
the book than when the children used the electronic version,
and hypothesized that the children lost focus of the story as a
result of the distracting pictures in the electronic version.
Teachers need to choose age and developmentally appropriate
e-books. Shamir and Korat (2006) suggest that educators
utilize a questionnaire for selecting e-bookssimilar to the
questions in the checklist in the next section of this article.
Instructors also need to be aware, that in addition to distracting features, there are other disadvantages to using

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interactive e-books. Lefever-Davis and Pearman (2005) found

that children can become dependent on the features that
decode words. If students always rely on an e-book for word
pronunciation, for example, they will make fewer attempts to
decode the word on their own. Consequently, children will be
slower to develop literacy skills because they are not using
critical thinking strategies. Dictionaries, and knowing how to
use them, will always be important to the reading process.
Lefever-Davis and Pearman (2005) argue that overdependency on electronic books can lead children to stop
taking risks, thereby leading them to constantly rely on
electronic guidance for the same words. For example, a
child may develop a habit of clicking on meaning of words
instead of using the story context to figure them out. This
phenomenon is a form of learned helplessness, affecting
students in a similar manner to their teachers holding low
learners; as such, it hinders pupils from putting forth their
maximum effort. Good teachers prompt students to pronounce words when it is appropriate. Computers, however,
cannot make decisions about what kind of assistance is
necessary, and instructors can rely on software to help
children find information (Lefever-Davis and Pearman
2005). Teachers should combine interactive e-books with
other substantiated strategies to teach reading in order to
help students make academic gains in literacy. King-Sears
and Evmenova (2007) remind educators that, although some
software is well-designed and is more advantageous for
students than poorly-designed programming, such resources
are not nearly as important as how instructors use them.
The following checklist should help teachers make wise
decisions in determining which e-books to use. This
checklist was adapted from Shamir and Korats (2006) criteria on how to select e-books. Teachers should consider the
questions relating to well-designed activations to be more
important than others, because distracting features can
prevent children from making academic gains. In addition,
Shamir and Korat remind that the dictionary option and
simple and precise directions remain particularly important.

Yes

No

Yes

No

Yes

No

Active Participation
1. Are interactive features allowing children to control
their learning included?
2. Can children activate parts of the text, characters, and
games?
3. Is an interactive dictionary included?
4. Are well-designed hot spots, allowing children to
activate special effects, available?

Congruency with Story Content

1. Do animations and activations support the narrative?
2. Do the activations allow children to discover new
information that enhances story comprehension?

User-Friendly
1. Are simple verbal directions included?
2. Are there graphic presentations that accompany the
directions?

Multimodal CD-ROMs for Children Recommended

by Booklist
Wood (1997) edited a book entitled CD-ROMs for Kids:
Booklists Best Bets, which contains many examples of good
e-books for children. Published by the American Library
Association, this resource includes examples of multimodal
childrens books that were chosen based on many important
factors involving ease of use, innovative content, opportunities for interaction, authenticity, and graphic design. Some
of the recommended CD-ROMs in this guide include:

Checklist for Selecting Multimodal E-Books

for Children
A to Zap! Sunburst Technology (Ages 36)
Yes
Developmentally Appropriate
1. Is the story structure simple enough for younger
students and more complex for older students?
2. Is the font size large enough?
3. Does the amount of text on each page match the
childs age?
4. Is the text highlighted when read?

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No

A to Zap! features rows of blocks with letters of the

alphabet. When children click on a letter, they hear the
correct pronunciation of the letter, and they can also see a
word that starts with that letter. The word is spelled aloud,
and animation is included as the word is defined. A to Zap!
helps to prepare early learners for reading and includes
many activities that are connected to a letter of the
alphabet. Children tend to enjoy this software, and its use
promotes letter recognition and phonemic awareness.

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Arthurs Teacher Trouble. The Learning Company

(Ages 48)

Reader Rabbits Interactive Reading Journey. The

Learning Company (Ages 47)

Arthur is anxious on his first day of school, and when he

encounters his new teacher, Mr. Ratburn, he is shocked at
his method of teaching. Arthur dislikes Mr. Ratburns
method of discipline and the homework he is assigned. The
class has to work hard in order to prepare for a spell-a-thon,
but other classes get to go on field trips and make popcorn.
Mr. Ratburns strict disciplinary approach, however, leads
to pleasant consequences because Arthur is chosen to
represent his class at the spell-a-thon, and he also wins the
tournament.

Children will learn different letters as they develop phonemic awareness, letter sounds, and vocabulary when they
use this software, which permits them to click on graphics
to hear pronunciation of different words. Young learners
can improve their ability to recognize words and identify
letters by playing games. Reader Rabbits Interactive
Reading Journey is a phonics-based reading program that
can be used in school or at home and is appropriate for
advanced pre-schoolers and kindergartners.

Just Grandma and Me. The Learning Company (Ages

48)

E-Book Apps Recommended by the Childrens Book

Council

This CD-ROM storybook is available in English, Spanish,

and Japanese, and a different version is available in English, Spanish, German, and French. Little Critter appears at
the start, to explain that users can either click the read
option, or they can play in the story. Little Critter and
his grandma take a bus to the beach, but the wind causes
the beach umbrella to fly away. Little Critter then flies a
kite, goes snorkeling, buys hot dogs, covers his grandma up
with sand, and tickles her toes. He also gives her a seashell.

The Childrens Book Council (CBC) is a national nonprofit

association of childrens books and is committed to issues
involving educational programming and literacy advocacy.
The CBC has a website that includes a link for digital
childrens books that have been recognized for their quality. These books are available as e-book apps, which
consist of software that can be used on various devices
such as an iPad, iPod, Kindle, or a computer. Educators can
visit the CBCs New in Digital webpage for information
on the newest e-book apps for children at: http://www.
cbcbooks.org/new-in-digital.php. Some of the e-book apps
mentioned on the webpage include:

My First Incredible Amazing Dictionary. DK

Multimedia (Ages 48)
Children generally find this software easy to use and
entertaining. They can explore nouns, verbs, adjectives,
and adverbs by clicking on each word. Words are defined
with sound and animation. When children use this CDROM, they have access to word pronunciation and to
explanations with sound. Also included are animated pictures that match the meaning of different words. After
picking a letter of the alphabet, a child can view pictures of
words for that letter in dictionary format, and the dictionary
includes definitions for over 1,000 words.
Read, Write and Type. The Learning Company (Ages
68)

And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street.

Oceanhouse Media (Ages 37)
Narrated by Katie Leigh, this app features words that are
highlighted as they are spoken, and children can touch
illustrations on their screen in order to see words that match
the pictures. Children have three options: Read to Me,
Read it Myself, and Auto Play. When children use the
Read it Myself mode, they can touch unfamiliar words
to hear correct pronunciation. This story is about Marco as
he walks on Mulberry Street wanting to share what he sees
with his father. Marco sees nothing exciting, so he uses his
imagination to make up something exciting.
Cliffords BIG Birthday. Scholastic (Ages 36)

When children use this program, they write what they say.
The software is designed to combine a phonics approach
with writing. Read Write and Type includes animated sentences and challenging activities. Children work on three
essential skills: reading, writing, and typing. This CD-ROM
includes various activities for topics that children have
difficulty with. Children learn how to type through animation and sound that help them use their hands.

The Cliffords BIG Birthday app is available for an iPhone,

iPad, or iPod. Emily Elizabeth invites players to join her to
organize a surprise party for Cliffords birthday. Players
can touch their screen to activate various features. They
can decorate a cake, select balloons, or do other activities
for the party. This app includes interactive games that
children can use to develop literacy and language skills

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involving spelling, word families, and sight words. The text

is also read aloud, and parents can access information
about how they can guide children to learn.

Children can use activities that help them develop word

recognition, and words are highlighted when read.

Elmos Big Birthday Bash! Random House Digital

(Ages 25)

More E-Book Resources for Children with Disabilities

This app, which is available for the iPad and includes a

30-page interactive storybook that promotes literacy
development, is narrated by Bob McGrath. Children have
fun with Elmo, and the text is highlighted when read. They
can touch words in order to activate correct pronunciation
and meaning. Children can also tap on their screen to
associate words with their picture clues. Parents have the
option to record the story to make it more meaningful, and
this software also includes games that help children
improve in literacy.
Pip and Posy: Fun and Games. Nosy Crow (Ages 25)
Based on the popular Pip and Posy picture book series,
this app by Axel Scheffler, illustrator of The Gruffalo, is
available for an iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch. Pip and Posy:
Fun and Games is ideal for pre-schoolers and includes
beautiful artwork and narration. Children have the opportunity to play with Pip and Posy, complete jigsaw puzzles,
and use their fingers on the screen to paint and color. They
can also flip cards to find matching pairs, make faces with
Pip and Posy, and try to find subtle differences in various
sets of pictures.
Rounds: Franklin Frog. Nosy Crow (Ages 37)
This app consists of the life cycle of a frog. Children watch
a frog lay eggs, which turn into tadpoles, and then into
frogs. Young learners can participate in different stages of
a frogs life and are exposed to fun information about frogs
in a motivating way that encourages them to be excited
about biology. Rounds: Franklin Frog features original
music, and the text is read aloud and highlighted. Children
can swipe Franklin to make him jump and can also touch
Franklin on their screen to make him swim at various
speeds.
The Monster at the End of this Book. Callaway Digital
Arts (Ages 38)
This award-winning e-book app is one of the most downloaded in the App Store. Children can view The Monster at
the End of This Book on an iPad with reader interaction that
includes touch-point animation and other multimedia features. The story features the Muppet character Grover as he
tries to keep away from the monster at the end of the story.

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All of the CD-ROMs and e-book apps listed in this article

can be beneficial for children with disabilities because
these tools are multimodal and include text tools that
provide support. These types of e-books often provide
children with disabilities with access to texts that were
previously too difficult to understand. Rhodes and Milby
(2007) say that e-books that include text-to-speech technology can increase the self-esteem of students with
disabilities.
Rhodes and Milby also recommend that teachers create
multimodal e-books to support children with disabilities. In
their article, they offer steps for teachers to produce
e-books using simple Microsoft PowerPoint software,
which most teachers have. These steps include opening a
new slideshow, inserting text boxes, adding graphics
matching the text, setting the animation effects, and
recording narration.
In addition, educators should be aware that Bookshare, a
nonprofit organization, makes free electronic copies of
books for students with qualifying disabilities. Bookshare
provides students with disabilities quick access to traditional texts that can be read aloud by computers and
magnified. Only students with certain disabilities, such as
those who have low vision or a physical disability that
affects reading, can use the free Bookshare e-books. More
information about Bookshare can be found at: https://www.
bookshare.org.

Conclusion
Students who struggle in reading frequently dislike reading, associate reading with failure, and may sidestep this
important process in order to avoid poor performance
(Rasinski et al. 2010). Low literacy levels surely will
prevent children from doing their best work in many academic subjects in later years. To deter this, teachers and
parents can use strategies and resources that make reading
easier and more enjoyable for young students. One of these
strategies is to utilize well-designed multimodal e-books
when teaching reading.
Struggling readers benefit from multimodal childrens
e-books in many ways. When teachers implement these
resources effectively, they create more opportunities for
children to derive meaning from text by offering young
learners many formats to perceive content, and using these
multiple resources makes reading easier. Furthermore,

Early Childhood Educ J (2013) 41:477483

children are more motivated when teachers use these types

of electronic books. Multimodal e-books for children can
be a very important resource for young learners because
some educational researchers, such as Rasinski et al.
(2010), believe that instructional activities must first be
enjoyable in order for children to persist at academic tasks.
Instructors and parents can purchase these technological
tools as CD-ROMs, or as e-book apps. For children with
certain disabilities, they are available free-of-charge from
Bookshare. Teachers can also create their own e-books
with Power Point software. Children can benefit from these
resources through features that include sound, illustration,
animation, and video. Researchers have shown that when
young children use these added text tools, they make good
progress in reading (Lefever-Davis and Pearman 2005;
Shamir and Baruch 2012; Shamir and Shlafer 2011).
Consider, however, that educators need to make wise
decisions when using these tools. Instructors need to
remember that while children can improve their reading
skills when using e-books, they may make few or no academic gains if their instructors implement e-books with
distracting features, or if children become over-dependent on these resources at the expense of traditional tools
like a good dictionary.

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