Jan. 22, 2026
By Aryanah Cedeño
Staff Writer
Whether reading “Romeo and Juliet” in English I, the Old English epic “Beowulf” in English IV or a book for leisure, students often have the option of reading from a traditional book or a PDF posted online.
In a survey of 107 LHS students conducted on Google Forms between Dec. 8-11, 83% responded that they prefer reading books in print, 7% said they prefer reading books as PDFs and 10% said they have no preference.
Senior Joy Boinett, who is president of the Book Club, is among the majority of students who prefer traditional books to PDFs.
“Turning the pages helps me remember the things that I’m reading,” Boinett said. “It’s having the book in your hand that makes you feel somehow connected to [the text].”
Boinett said she also prefers traditional books because they hold her attention.
“I don’t get distracted compared to a PDF because when you have a PDF, it’s on a phone or a computer, so you’ll probably get notifications,” Boinett said.
PIE CHART BY ZAHARA CHOWDHURY This pie chart represents the responses of 107 LHS students. Survey results were collected using Google Forms between Dec. 8-11.
She said she especially likes reading a book when she can supplement it with audio.
“I listen to an audiobook while reading the book, and that makes me understand better,” Boinett said.
Like Boinett, sophomore Sarah Martins said she prefers traditional books over PDFs.
“A book definitely keeps me more focused because the only thing I can do with a book is look at the words, and, let’s just say, if it’s a PDF on my phone, I’m going to scroll out if I see a message or email,” Martins said.
While she prefers traditional books, Martins said they come with some disadvantages.
“If you’re drinking or eating, it will get dirty, and they rip so easily,” Martins said. “If you annotate it, and [the ink] smudges, it [stains] everything.”
Senior Michael Monahan said he prefers traditional books when reading for pleasure but favors PDFs for classroom texts.
“For school, I read from the PDF because it’s more accessible,” Monahan said. “Sometimes I forget my book somewhere, and I don’t have anywhere to get it unless it’s on a PDF.”
Monahan said another advantage of reading from a PDF is being able to look up unfamiliar words.
“My native language is Spanish, so if I don’t understand a word in books that have a different dialect, it’s just easier for me on a PDF to just make a new tab, search up the word and actually understand the passage,” Monohan said.
PIE CHART BY ZAHARA CHOWDHURY This pie chart represents the responses of 107 LHS students. Survey results were collected using Google Forms between Dec. 8-11.
He said he does not have a strong preference between hardcover and paperback books, but if he had to choose, he would read from a paperback.
“Some people who like to collect stuff, they like the hard[cover] book, but so far, with all the books I’ve gotten, it’s just paperback to not spend those extra bucks,” Monahan said.
Freshman Zemaya Caballero said she prefers hardcover over paperback books.
“Turning the pages helps me remember the things that I’m reading.”
“I don’t want to damage the cover, but it’s hard to focus and read with the softcovers when the cover is constantly folding over your hand while you’re trying to read,” Caballero said.
Her views represent the majority, as 46% of LHS students prefer hardcovers to paperbacks, 36% prefer paperbacks and 18% have no preference.
While she recognizes the positive attributes of hardcover books, Caballero said she prefers reading from PDFs.
“Everybody always has their phone on them no matter what, so you can easily access a PDF from anywhere,” Caballero said. “I didn’t like it when I had to carry so many books in my backpack, and it ended up weighing down my backpack a lot. The PDFs are just easier to keep around.”
