“Huck Finn” and “The Little Engine That Could” can’t hold them forever.
The older kids get, the less time they devote to reading for fun, according to a survey released yesterday.
The Kids and Family Reading Report, which tracks kids’ opinions, said 44 percent of kids between the ages of 5 to 8 say they read for fun every day. That drops off to 29 percent by the time a youngster reaches ages 9 to 11 and by the upper teens – fuhgeddaboutit. Only 16 percent of youths 15 to 17 say they read for pleasure every day.
The survey, taken by the firm Yankelovich on behalf of Scholastic Publishers, also said the No. 1 source for suggesting a good read isn’t some tykster version of Oprah Winfrey, but teachers and librarians.
Pollsters weren’t surprised by the sharp drop-off in reading habits between the “Sesame Street” crowd and their older siblings.
“They have more activities to do,” said Hal Quinley, a spokesman for Yankelovich, of the older kids. “And parents don’t play the same role as kids get older. [Teens] have lots of other things competing for their attention.”
What surprised Quinley most was the technological transformation. No longer are all readers cracking open books – four in 10 respondents said they read by using computers, iPods, MP3 players and BlackBerries.
“Reading e-books online was a real surprise,” he said. “It’s not a distraction, it’s a supplement.”