NEW YORK (AP) – Three E.B. White classics read by millions of parents to their children will soon be available on the digital screen.
HarperCollins announced Wednesday that “Charlotte’s Web,” ”Stuart Little” and “The Trumpet of the Swan” can be purchased as e-books starting March 17. White’s granddaughter Martha White told The Associated Press that family members had worried electronic sales would hurt business for their preferred format, paper.
“After discussing this with our agent (Amanda Urban), it’s become apparent to us that e-books complement sales of paper books, instead of replacing sales,” White said. “The print books of ‘Stuart Little’ and ‘Charlotte’s Web’ have been selling strongly, and we felt like it was time to allow the books into the market in other formats.”
White, whose grandfather died in 1985, said she imagined the e-editions being read by travelers, at airports and train stations, or by people in waiting rooms at doctors’ offices. But she hoped that at home families would still use the paper edition.
“I think the routines and rituals around reading to children still mean sitting on a bed or in an armchair with an adult, and the print book is the best format for that,” she said.