The screen is not the book

During the prototype weeks, children found the laptop under the tea towel within minutes. Once they knew there was a screen, the screen became the thing. They wanted to see the story appear on it. They wanted to scroll. The book, when it came, was second best.

That was the moment we understood that a device which makes books could very easily become a device that replaces them. So we wrote a rule and put it on the wall: the screen is not the book.

Why have a display at all

We tried a version with none. It felt dead. A child presses a button, talks, and then nothing happens for three minutes. Children need to see that something is coming. So the display shows one thing: the cover. Their title, their name, their hero. It is a promise, not a page.

Why e-paper

We chose e-paper because it cannot do the things a screen does. It does not glow. It does not animate. It cannot scroll or play video, and it holds an image without power. When the book slides out of the slot, the display goes blank and stays blank. There is nothing behind it to find.

What the research told us

Studies comparing print and screen versions of the same picture book, read by an adult with a child, find more story-related conversation and better comprehension with print. Interactive features on the screen tend to pull attention toward the device and away from the adult. We didn't want to build another thing that competes with the parent for the child's eyes.

What it looks like in practice

A child presses the button, talks, and lets go. The cover appears. The child looks at it, usually says the title out loud, and then looks at the slot. When the book comes out, the display goes dark and the child does not look back at it. In the prototype weeks we didn't once see a child try to touch the display after the first day. It simply isn't where the story is.

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