Children's books in a digital age

I read Radical change: Books for youth in a digital age by Eliza T. Dresang. It talks about the (radical) changes taking place in literature for children, because of the changes in society as impacted by new technologies, e.g. this quote from p. 104 - "Dad, this is the best book we've ever read. It's just like a CD-ROM, only it's a book!" about a book that could be approached non-linearly and interactively (not that it was an unusual book, just a non-fiction book about sharks aimed at older children than the speaker).

In other words it talks about how stories can be told and designed to match the way children live in the digital age (interactive and connected), but, importantly (to me), the stories are still good stories, they're just presented in a more lively, active fashion; the technology is an adjunct to how the children think. For example, there is a discussion of hypertext on p. 119: Dresang compares ideas about electronic hyperlinking (that it embodies not just a way of reading or following information links, but of thinking and analysis) to "handheld" (what she calls books) hypertext as well, because digital-age design can facilitate the way children take meaning from what they're reading in a manner closer to the flexible non-linear ways of real life.

It's a really interesting approach that makes a good connection between technology and literature without literature coming off secondbest. I've said before I would worry that applying digital technology to books without reason could be gimmicky and detrimental; this book gives good reasons for it and shows how gimmicks can be avoided.