I believe certain books are not always good for a Kindle or other similar portable devices. For instance, how would a pop out book work on a Kindle? It would not work. How would an interactive talking book work on a Kindle? Certain technologies can go digital, such as audio, video, and visual to an extent, yet not everything can go digital. These books would not be able to be read through a Kindle, and would not give the child the same experience. Some of these books will remain indefinitely, I believe.

Electronic Books Cannot Replace a Pop up Book Such as This:
http://www.bergintoys.com/heros/2004-Oct/details/Shogun%20Pop-up%20Book%20.jpg

Depending on the book, it would be better to read it through an actual book. The Kindle was not set up for bright and colorful pictures, pop up books, or interactive story telling (ie. press on a button in the book etc.) and this is where many children books succeed over other paperback books. It's this novelty where children's stories sometimes are more advanced than the technology can handle. Even with the Plastic Logic Reader, which provides a bigger screen, it does not provide the pop up book, or interactive book experience.

So, to answer your question: It's yes, and no. Depending on the book, this is where you use technology for your advantage.

I believe children as young as 3 years of age can listen to audio books. Audible has an excellent selection of audiobooks for children.

Audible Kids
http://kids.audible.com

I would encourage listening to audio programs for kids.

Instead of the Kindle, toys such as Leapfrog's Tag Reading System are great alternatives:

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/516NlV5ImbL._SL500_AA280_.jpg

Or, Leapfrog also has a LeapPad which is another great item:

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51HA650W7KL._SL500_AA280_.jpg
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For ebooks? No, not yet, because my kids are 6, 4 and 2 and I think that ebooks have still got a good 10 or more years before we truly see them adopted as natural as regular books. By that time I may be helping the kids with their homework out of such a book, but I won't be reading them stories in the traditional bedtime sense. Ask me if I think they'll be reading stories that way to my grandchildren? Almost certainly.

Audiobooks require a surprising amount of attention, something that small children simply do not have. A parent reading or telling a story can pause for questions, or just because you see that the child's attention has wandered, and call it back. An audiobook just chugs blindly on from start to finish, whether the child understand's what's going on or not. I have tried my kids on audiobooks - mostly in podcast form, while driving in the car so I am with them. Attention wanders, then comes back, then they don't know what happened so they ask what's going on, and while I'm explaining it, the audiobook continues to chug along. Before you know it I might as well stop the book and just tell the story from memory.

Actually that might well sum up my answer for both parts of your question -- kids need an attentive narrative, and they want to know what's going on in the story. They don't care whether the story is on paper or on e-ink, and if they can't ask the narrator questions, it's not as good as a real life person.
Source(s):
I do, however, read Shakespeare to my kids quite regularly. I just do it from memory or from regular books. Believe me, when the time comes that I can use technology to accelerate their learning, I'll be all over it.

http://blog.shakespearegeek.com/search?q=kids

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The main disadvantage of books is that you can't increase the font size on a book. And that you have to cut down trees to make a book, if you think about the environment. I haven't read more than 10 books in my life, but I've read thousands of ebooks on different subjects and languages, books that I would never find as a hard copy. I'm all for ebooks.
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Yes. I think the Kindle is an amazing and convenient device and I would read to my child from it. This would be especially true if the Kindle worked like a Zune where you could pay a monthly fee to access a library of books.
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I'm only 23 and don't have children yet, but even as someone who was raised around rapidly growing and developing technology, I will never use an electronic device to read stories to my children.

There's so much more involved in books, reading, and storytelling than simply the words that are there. Illustrations are such an integral part of it all; looking at the pictures, and not only seeing what is being told in the story, but then creating your own details from the images that are on the pages. If I didn't have these opportunities to use my imagination, I wouldn't be the creative individual I am today.

Taking trips to the library was one of my favorite activities as a child; how would a Kindle make up for that? Allow a child to 'browse titles' on a computer? Absolutely not. As a kid, there's so much wonder in walking into a room full of shelf after shelf of colorful books that are available to you for FREE to look at, discover, and take home.

I love technology and will embrace it as it develops more and more throughout the future, but there are certain aspects of life that shouldn't be sacrificed to the digital age. Physical books could never, and should never, be replaced because they are an important part of developing a child's imagination, creativity, and desire to develop these parts of their mind as they grow. Something tells me text on an LCD screen couldn't quite do the same thing.
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I believe it would be best to leave things as they are with books. With kids being as technologically addicted as they are, they don't need help to start early. Also, I don't believe I would ever encourage them listening to audio books, because then they don't work on their vocabulary; they can't go back and say, what's that word? How do I say it? What does it mean? Also, listening to audio books inhibits them because who is willing to sit down for 12 hours or so to listen to Eragon when you could read it in 5? I believe strongly that keeping kids away from technology and close to books for as long as possible is crucial to their development.
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I'd like to answer this question from a different point of view --

http://www.popgadget.net/images/kindle.gif

As we have always seen it is the younger generation that have influenced the course of action ( specially regarding technology) of their parents.

I think that those were between 10 to 15 years old now will be the once who will decide whether it will be old-style books or a Kindle. Though I think the Kindles will not be able to replace storybooks, but they will take up a different role in the future. I cannot quote/remember the source, but I remember in a research scientists had found that reading from laptops or any kind of display devices was far difficult than reading a book. And it is also proved beyond doubt that these kind of devices hampered eyesight special in the small children. Audio-books seem easy to us but may not be as interesting to small children.

As to the question of what age they should be allowed to listen to audio books, I think that they should be introduced audio books when they feel they are comfortable with it.

Whether I will encourage such practices, I think at present one does not get a whole lot of help from these but I'm sure that in the future this will not be the case.
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