Ever since Faith Stumph got her Nook this year as a birthday present, the Fort Wayne 10-year-old has been mesmerized.

She reads e-books on it before school and before bed. She sneaks in a few pages during breaks in swimming classes.

Sometimes she reads in the car, but it can make her feel sick, so she’ll hand off the Nook to her sister, Ruby, 3, and set up a storybook so the Nook will read it out loud to her.

“And we’re allowed to electronically read at school, so I use it then,” she says.

Welcome to the future of reading – and, indeed, some experts say, children’s literacy.

Today’s children have taken to reading on Nooks, Kindles, iPads and other e-devices like the proverbial ducks to water.

Katie Burrows, who teaches reading to kindergarteners through fourth-graders at Canterbury School, says digital reading devices have the potential to improve children’s desire and ability to read.

“They’re increasing the time spent reading and making reading more attractive to reluctant readers,” she says, adding she can’t wait until children in her classes get to fire up school-supplied iPads and download storybooks later this school year.

“I think that they feel high-tech, and a lot of kids see their parents using them,” she says of e-readers, adding that even the youngest of her students have taken well to them. Compared to a book, reading on an iPad “seems more like a game,” she says.

But so far, children with access to an e-reader are in a minority. A study of children’s use of electronic media released last month by San Francisco-based Common Sense Media, “Zero to Eight: Children’s Media Use in America,” found only 9 percent of children up to 9 years old live in a house with an e-reader. Only about 5 percent used one to read books.

But the study also found that slightly more than half – 52 percent – had access to devices including smartphones, iPods and iPads, and 38 percent had used them. There are apps for phones and the iPad that allow users to download books, so it’s likely some children did use them to read, the study’s authors say.

“When you look at it that babies and toddlers are looking at e-books, most people’s reaction is that their minds are kind of blown that little kids are engaging in this kind of technology,” says Regan McMahon, children’s book editor for Common Sense Media, a non-profit group that reviews and recommends media for children.

Marilyn Horan, principal at Bunche Montessori Early Childhood Center, part of Fort Wayne Community Schools, says many young children find an e-reader engaging.

Kindergartners at the school can’t really read yet but they still use an iPad and Montessori-designed reading readiness apps, she says.

Kindergartner Isaac Smith barely looks up from tapping away at a program that shows him a picture of a pig and the alphabet. His index finger deftly moves letters into blanks to spell p-i-g, prompting the app to say the word and produce a celebratory shower of stars that seem to leap off the screen.

“It helps me learn,” the 5-year-old says of the device, adding he “just knew” how to use it. “This is my first time,” he says.

Horan says the devices especially can help children whose parents don’t speak English. The electronic voice can stand in for parents who may not be able to read English or know how to pronounce English words correctly, she says.

Each of Bunche’s nine classrooms has had an iPad for about two months, Horan says. “It’s very new, but children are not afraid of them at all,” she says.

But the devices aren’t without controversy. Some wonder whether they will steal even more time away from the dwindling minutes children spend with paper books.

The Common Sense study found that screen time for children younger than 9 already dwarfs time spent reading or being read to by more than 7 to 1. Kids spent three hours and 46 minutes a day in front TV, computer, video game and cellphone screens – compared to only 29 minutes with print, the study found.

The American Academy of Pediatrics recently reaffirmed that children younger than 2 should not spend time in front of screens at all, lest other aspects of their development suffer.

The group recommends that older children’s screen time should be limited to 2 hours day viewing only “quality material.”

But some educators – and parents – seem willing to make an exception for e-reader exposure.

Burrows says her students can complete weekly assignments requiring a certain amount of time reading with e-books. “I don’t think we ever want to abandon print books because there’s something about the smell of the book and the feel and the look of a book,” she says. “But our job is to engage kids with text, regardless of the form it’s in.”

Carolyn Stumph, Faith’s mother and a high school economics and government teacher at Canterbury, says she’s delighted that her daughter likes her full-color version of the Nook, which cost about $250 with its accessory case.

Faith was always a good reader, she says, but not always an eager one.

“She’s a bit of a reluctant reader, so we thought being able to download books and share them with friends might pique her interest,” she says. You wouldn’t have thought of her as being the kind to be carrying a book around, but she does carry her Nook. It really has done something for her.”

Faith says one of her favorite places to take her Nook is to restaurants with free WiFi. “You can download books anywhere they have WiFi, and they have a bunch of free books for kids,” she says, adding she’s about to start reading Percy Jackson stories.

“There are no free books in bookstores. There are over a thousand free books for Nook,” she adds. “I love it. I’m so glad I got it.”

rsalter@jg.net