UK: Reading: "Novels Read Monthly By 'Less Than One in Two Children'", 7% Never Been to a Library

From the BBC:

Fewer than 50% of UK children aged eight to 17 read a novel outside class every month, research suggests.

The National Literacy Trust survey of about 18,000 school children suggests youngsters are more likely to read text messages and emails than fiction.

Most children (28.9%) estimated they had between 11 and 50 books in their homes.

But one in six said they rarely read outside the classroom.

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And about one in eight claimed they had never been to a bookshop and some 7% said they had never visited a library.

However, just under half of all children surveyed said they enjoyed reading a lot. Only one in 10 said they did not like it at all.

Text messages, magazines, emails and websites were the top leisure reading choices of young people. But Ebooks were read the least frequently.

Read the Complete BBC Article

Read the Complete Report from the National Literacy Trust:
Setting the Baseline: The National Literacy Trust’s first annual survey into young people’s reading – 2010 (48 pages; PDF)

Filed under: Libraries, Publishing