Living books, yes. Talking books, no.

Anyone who homeschools is familiar with the concept of "living" books, books that offer a lively and enjoyable read about historical events, people, or places. They are an alternative to the dry textbooks most of us had in school, the ones with such sparse detail as to make the chapters little more than concise summaries of what should have been full-length reports on the greatest events in history. Living books spring from the educational philosophy of Englishwoman Charlotte Mason. Miss Mason firmly believed that by reading substantial and beautiful books on all subjects from history to poetry, children would learn the facts they needed but in the context of rich language and imagery.

Stark contrast to something I'm seeing more and more of, much to my dismay. "Noisy books," I call them. They are usually severely abridged stories from, say, the Winnie the Pooh books by Milne, or some offshoot pablum from the latest Disney movie. (Think "Bugs Life" or "Shrek".) The story lines are simplistic, the illustrations garish, and to top it all off, the books sport a righthand margin that extends beyond the page edge by about two inches. This margin, made of hard plastic, features several large and colorful pushbuttons and a small speaker.

The idea is that as the child goes through the book, they are expected to push a button that relates to something on a given page. Example, you see a cow, you push the "cow" button to hear, "MOOOOOO." Or Dora the Explorer says, "C'mon Diego, let's go!"

What IS the point of this? Whatever happened to letting children read, using their own voices or imagining what someone or something might sound like?

These noisy books have taken the last vestage of an uncomplicated childhood and made it "interactive."

Have we fallen so far as a culture that we can no longer trust our children's minds to work as the minds of children have worked for thousands of years? Must everything come pre-scripted, pre-packaged, so that the only voices they hear are those of some anonymous electronic device?

Children will always find a way to make noise. They don't need books to do it for them.