ABSTRACT
Although some notable recent work addresses children’s engagement with digital books and apps, more is needed to understand situated and volitional reading practices across complex digital environments. This chapter explores children’s “playful reading” with connected apps, virtual worlds, and online fan communities, drawing on the findings and methods of three ethnographic studies. It foregrounds agency, affective encounters, and participatory practices in digital environments and the need to attend to multi-layered and intersecting social, material, and spatial factors. It also urges the reconsideration, and protection, of the rights of the reader in a digital world.
