Kids and Reading

Scholastic, the publishers of Harry Potter in the US, have released a couple of interesting studies. Since Harry seems to provoke strong opinions (sometimes in folks who don’t read the books or see the movies), maybe these reports add a little balance:
See the main page here.
Yankelovich, a leader in consumer research and trends, and Scholastic, the global children’s publishing, education and media company, unveil for the first time, the results of The Kids and Family Reading Report™. While studies have investigated how kids spend their time outside of school, this is the first to reveal some surprising insights about why kids and their parents do or don’t read, and how the power of one book, Harry Potter, can impact kids’ reading and school work. This is a national survey of kids 5-17 years old and one parent or primary guardian.
Click here to download the Harry Potter data (PPT)
Click here to download the Harry Potter press release
Click here to download The Kids and Family Reading Report™ (PDF)
Click here to download The Kids and Family Reading Report™ press release(PDF)
This report is a gift and worth reviewing. Yes, it comes from a publisher with a vested interest in Harry and kids’ reading habits, nut what’s wrog with wanting kids to read? And Yankelovich is a respected and independent research house and some of these data are bound to spark conversations and discussions. That’s a good thing. I found the data on kids and PC’s and their reading habits interesting as well as the data on summer reading. There’s too much opinion in this space and not enough hard research. This is a start. Don’t be a a Muggle! Read.
Stephen