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Quill and Feather Pub [Public] / "Decline by 9" - Kids don't read
« Last post by Hopscotch on May 06, 2024, 02:45:30 AM »Not Lost in a Book
Slate May 5, 2024
“…At least among one audience, books are dying...the exact audience whose departure from reading might actually presage a catastrophe for the publishing industry—and for the entire concept of pleasure reading as a common pursuit….Sales of ‘middle-grade’ books—the classification covering ages 8 through 12—[is] the only sector of the industry that’s underperforming compared to 2019.…kids in third and fourth grade are beginning to stop reading for fun….at age 8, 57 percent of kids say they read books for fun most days; at age 9, only 35 percent do….the very age when, according to publishing lore, lifetime readers are made….any number of causes for middle-graders’ lost love of reading [screen time, schools teaching reading to test, librarians worry for book bans, publishers chasing bestsellers, etc]…adds up to an environment where kids are less passionate about reading and, even if they somehow do get excited, they’re less likely to discover the book that will keep them excited….”
https://slate.com/culture/2024/05/kids-reading-fun-books-decline-by-nine-crisis.html
Slate May 5, 2024
“…At least among one audience, books are dying...the exact audience whose departure from reading might actually presage a catastrophe for the publishing industry—and for the entire concept of pleasure reading as a common pursuit….Sales of ‘middle-grade’ books—the classification covering ages 8 through 12—[is] the only sector of the industry that’s underperforming compared to 2019.…kids in third and fourth grade are beginning to stop reading for fun….at age 8, 57 percent of kids say they read books for fun most days; at age 9, only 35 percent do….the very age when, according to publishing lore, lifetime readers are made….any number of causes for middle-graders’ lost love of reading [screen time, schools teaching reading to test, librarians worry for book bans, publishers chasing bestsellers, etc]…adds up to an environment where kids are less passionate about reading and, even if they somehow do get excited, they’re less likely to discover the book that will keep them excited….”
https://slate.com/culture/2024/05/kids-reading-fun-books-decline-by-nine-crisis.html