Disney to Offer e-Books in Late 2007

Scholastic Inc., Disney Turn Page with e-books

Associated Press
6/20/2007

Children's publishers, Scholastic Inc., and Disney, soon will discover whether the laptop compares with the lap in the hearts of young readers.

Scholastic is officially launching BookFlix, an educational Web site pairing short films based on popular picture books along with nonfiction e-books that allow early readers to follow the text online.

Meanwhile, the Disney Publishing Group plans a similar project later this year, making favorites such as The Jungle Book and Cinderella available online. While Scholastic, for now, is sticking to the school and library market, Disney will offer books to general consumers, charging a fee, still to be determined, for downloads.

E-books for early readers come as e-sales overall have been rising quickly, even if they remain a fraction of a $35 billion dollar industry.