Do children's eBooks ruin reading?

An anonymous reader writes: A fierce argument has begun over whether children are actually "reading" new eBooks or simply "watching" them. As publishers pump increasing levels of interactivity into eBooks, the New York Times and others argue that these highly-interactive, popular titles are ruining the purpose of reading. The NYT also worries that new eBook titles could distract kids from the tougher task of actually concentrating on literature: "what will become of the readers we've been: quiet, thoughtful, patient, abstracted, in a world where interactive can be too tempting to ignore?". Others, like Gizmodo, defend these new eBooks, pointing at titles like Alice for the iPad, of which they blabber, "For the first time in my life, I'm blown away by an interactive book design." But, the NYT counters: "what I really love [about traditional books] is their inertness. No matter how I shake Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, mushrooms don't tumble out of the upper margin, unlike the Alice for the iPad.". Alice, a physics-enabled version of Alice in Wonderland is more like a hallucination than a book, but is, much to the horror of traditionalists, the top selling kid's eBook title. So, which is it? Are children's eBooks improving reading standards, or turning the joy of reading into a "watching" experience?