Many children in the US are ready to read e-books and would read more for fun if they could obtain them, a study has found. Parents, however, are not planning on investing in e-readers.
The 2010 Kids and Family Reading Report was released by Scholastic Inc, the US publishers of the Harry Potter series.
The report, which surveyed more than 2,000 children aged 6 to 17 and their parents, showed mixed feelings from families regarding reading e-books.
Six out of 10 of young people aged between 9 and 17 said they’d be interested in reading on an electronic device, such as the Kindle or iPad.
One in three from that age group said they’d find it “more fun” if books were available on an e-reader.
But two-thirds of children would not want to give up printed books entirely.
Parents see the potential in technology to introduce books to children through e-readers, computers and tablets.
However, the report showed that only 6pc of parents surveyed owned an e-reading device and 76pc said they don’t intend to buy one.
Some 16pc wish to have one within the following year.
Kids who read for fun
More than half of children aged between 6 and 8 read for fun, but that percentage drops to 25pc by the ages of 15 to 17 and to just 20pc of boys within that age group.
“We know that around age 8 they start to lose interest in reading,” Scholastic Book Club president Judy Newman said.
“Obviously, digital media is competing for kids’ attention. It’s very important that we as publishers make sure we’re engaging kids in reading for fun.
“There’s an opportunity to use technology to engage kids … We can have great content presented in a digital way.”
The report also saw that many children displayed a high level of trust in information found online. Some 39pc of children aged 9 to 17 said information they found online was “always correct”.
