The Kids Aren’t All Right: Despite Harry Potter, teenagers aren’t reading
Earlier in the week Galleycat reported on the Boston Globe story pointing out that, despite the immense popularity of the Harry Potter books, the downward trend in reading among teenagers continues unabated (Motoko Rich has a similar story in today’s New York Times). In the Boston Globe story by David Mehegan, entitled “In the end, Potter magic extends only so far,†Mehegan writes that “A forthcoming national study finds that not even Harry Potter has stemmed a decline in adolescent reading.†The study, conducted by the National Endowment for the Arts (also known as the NEA), is due to be released this fall, and it finds that “reading among adolescent children is in trouble.â€
It sounds like the study will be a follow up to the NEA’s landmark report from 2004 entitled Reading at Risk: A Survey of Literary Reading in America. Back then NEA chairman Dana Gioia wrote that “Literary reading in America is not only declining rapidly among all groups, but the rate of decline has accelerated, especially among the young.†And now, quoted in Mehegan’s story, Gioia says that “When kids hit high school, all the social pressure takes them away from reading and you see an enormous fall, to a point where most kids are almost not reading at all.â€
So despite the fact that “325 million copies of Harry Potter books have been printed worldwide, in 66 languages†and that “Scholastic Inc.’s first US printing of Deathly Hallows is an unprecedented 12 million copies,†kids these days are reading less, not more.
In Mehegan’s story, Jodi Reamer — a New York children’s literary agent — is quoted as saying that “Harry Potter made it cool to read a big, fat, complicated book. Before Harry Potter, that sort of book was the hardest sell.” But it seems that the NEA study is proving that these kids, once they finish the Potter books and get a little older, are not continuing to read “big, fat, complicated books.†The dotted line that connects Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince to Gravity’s Rainbow and Underworld doesn’t necessarily exist.
Instead, this shows that what kids have gravitated to in terms of the Potter books has been both the content and the immersive experience that the books offer. But since Potter’s arrival a decade ago, a number of interactive media — from World of Warcraft to Second Life — have been introduced which offer an equally immersive experience (if not more so). Indeed, continuing to read the Potter books — for many fans — has become just another part of the ongoing Harry Potter cottage industry, which includes everything from movies to theme parks. As I wrote in an earlier blog post, books are getting to be the least interesting part of the Potter universe.
So if not even Harry Potter can encourage kids to read, what’s it going to take? And if kids are trading books for online experiences — whether it’s Facebook, Youtube or Myspace — publishing is going to have to work to engage younger readers. If not, it risks losing them forever. And not even a wizard will be able to bring them back…
[...] Original post by Jeff [...]
Whatcha Reading?…
Apparently if you’re a young person, the answer will be not much. Or maybe a blank stare. The Times explores the long term impact that Harry Potter has had on reading, and finds…not much.
Sure, this makes me gnash my teeth. Because personally, I c…
Breaking Harry Potter’s Spell:…
Despite the immense popularity of the Harry Potter books, the downward trend in reading among teenagers continues unabated, according to a study by the National Endowment for the Arts. (Print Is Dead)……
Long Form Fiction and Mozart’s Operas…
The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) has released some preliminary findings from a study of reading habits among the young. The report indicates that despite the Harry Potter phenomenon, the long term trend in reading habits continues its general….
[...] Print is Dead website looks into newspaper reports of declining literacy rates among [...]
If print and reading is as dead as everyone has been lamenting for the last thirty some years, why are there so many book chain stores all over the place? Someone must be reading something.
Of course, the young don’t read as much as other parts of the population. This is news? When I was college age, I had to do so much reading for school that the last thing I wanted to do in my spare time was read another book.
Another thought provoking post for a librarian. We still have that same core of kids that read coming in and asking for Cather in the Rye, but I think you’re right about life beyond the walls of the library.
I think it’s really tacky to blame “Facebook, Youtube or Myspace” for the decline of reading.
I’m a pretty wired 20-year-old, and still read plenty.
The Internet takes away as much or more from TV watching than from reading.
[...] is literary reading is much larger than the decline in literary reading that the NEA and many concerned persons, including some who note various flaws in the NEA report other than the lack of interest in [...]
So the answer is that kids will still read… if there’s enough marketing and media hype and everyone else is doing it. (Kids influenced by peer pressure? Whoda thunk it?)
Maybe Scholastic should take the million dollars it has budgeted for marketing HP7 and put it behind another series. Or perhaps spend it on market research.
[...] The Kids Aren’t All Right: Despite Harry Potter, teenagers aren’t reading (Print is Dead: Books in Our Digital Age) [...]