The first 100 digital interactive books collection is finally ready to be uploaded into ABIbooks digital library! We read, chose and reviewed the best books in each of the partners language. Besides the library creation, we are working to offer interactive books created on the basis of the needs of parents and professionals in education and early childhood and primary school care.

Looking for specific needs in basic skills acquisition we started by asking people involved in children education. We interviewed parents and teachers of 3-8 years old kids from our Direzione Didattica about their kids’ reading habits and if they consider reading a tool for basic skills development. Here’s what we found out.

Italian kids love reading!

Parents know this for sure: Italian kids love reading! Most of the parents say that their children are very or much interested in books and spend their time reading and playing with them. According to our interviews only a 15% of the parents think that their kids don’t like books so much. This reflects the national trend: family reading habits influence children attitude in reading (Source ISTAT – https://www.istat.it/it/archivio/266127).

What do children read?

Kids cannot resist the charm of a traditional paper book, but they also like interactive traditional (pop-up, sound book, tactile, flapbook…) and digital book and they also like comics. Some of them like to browse through different kinds of books and have no particular preference for a specific format. They can change their preference growing up.

And how do they read?

According to parents, a book can engage children from half to an entire hour at home. They are willing to browse their books alone but they prefer to share the pleasure of reading with their parents, reading-along with them. Obviously, no child can say no to someone that reads a story! Teachers know that too, and they dedicate time almost everyday to read to their pupils. Kindergartens and primary schools in Italy have a school library and children have access to a great number of books.

What do parents and teachers think about books in early education?

We also asked both parents and teachers their opinion about reading in early education and which basic skills can be improved by interacting with a book.

Parents answers

Teachers answers

Everybody agrees: books are important for kids’ learning! Not just for fun, but for helping them to develop their basic skills in all the learning areas.

And now… let’s go find the “perfect” book!

Talking to teachers and parents we collected valuable data that will be used to find a format for digital interactive books that everybody will find interesting and helpful.

Now the new challenge is finding the perfect format for customizable books for each specific need. We are working to offer teachers, parents and educators a chance at creating their own interactive materials, picking and sharing them with the other users of ABIbooks portal.

Stay tuned…