Reading with you family

A new study conducted (in the USA) by Scholastic and Yankelovitch finds that 75 percent of kids ages five to 17 say that although they love technology, they still want to read books. (Scholastic is a publisher in the USA; Yankelovitch is a consumer trends research company.)“The Kids & Family Reading Report,” also says that 62 percent of kids prefer reading printed books rather than those on a computer or a handheld device. (In 2006 the study found that a majority of children (68%) think it is “extremely” or “very” important to read for pleasure, and “like” or “love” doing so.)

(But reading decreases with age. After age 8 reading begins to decline, and continues to drop through the teen years.)

The study also found that two-thirds of kids age 9-17 who go online have extended the reading experience via the Internet. These online reading extenders say they learn what other people think about a book, learn new things about an author and connect with other readers.

The report also found that parents have a strong influence over kids’ reading. They overwhelmingly view reading as the most important skill a child needs to develop, but only about half of all parents begin reading to their child before their first birthday. The percent of children who are read to every day drops from 38% among 5-8 year olds to 23% among 9-11 year olds. This is the same time that kids’ daily reading for fun starts to decline.

Read the whole article at Scholastic at this link.

I encourage you to watch the videos of the report presentation at these links:

Part I: Kids & Reading

Part II: Technology and the Printed Book

Part III: The Internet: An Extension of Reading

Part IV: Parents' Role in Kids' Reading

Downloads

Click here to download The 2008 Kids and Family Reading Report™ (Adobe pdf file)