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One in six children doesn't read a book a month
22.08.11 | Graeme Neill
One in six children do not read a single book per month, according to a new survey by the National Literacy Trust.
The research suggested the United Kingdom is polarised between those who do not read and the one in 10 children who read more than 10 books per month. The NLT said reading frequency has a link to reading attainment, with 80% of children who read more than 10 books per month having an above average level, compared to only 30% of children who rarely read.
Time spent reading also had a link to attainment, with 77% of children who read for longer than an hour above average readers. Only 4% of those who read for more than an hour are below the level expected of them. The research found only 30% of children who read for up to 10 minutes at a time do so at an above average level. A fifth of those children are below the level expected for their age.
The NLT said text messages were the most popular thing for children to read outside of class, with 60% of those surveyed saying they read texts outside of class at least once per month. The survey found those who read text messages but not fiction books are twice as likely to be below average readers (10% compared to 5%).
Jonathan Douglas, director of the National Literacy Trust, said: "Our new research shows that 1 in 6 children don’t read a book in a month, and we are worried that they will grow up to be the 1 in 6 adults who struggle with literacy to the extent that they read to the level expected of an 11-year-old, or below. Getting these children reading and helping them to love reading is the way to turn their lives around and give them new opportunities and aspirations."
The survey polled 18,141 children from across the United Kingdom in November and December 2010.
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One in six children DOESN'T... not 'don't'.
Where on earth are the 5 in 6 children getting their books from if 3 in 10 households don't contain one?!? http://www.thebookseller.com/news/three-10-households-do-not-contain-boo....
:-p
Both in the headline and the body of the piece there is not agreement between the subject and the verb - One don't read? One in six children doesn't read - one is the subject. this makes my editor-skin crawl. Please usually you are such a great read and source of information.
Even a good proof reader would find this.
And besides it is not such dire news. Five out of six kids are reading a book a month. Some adults don't do that.
Tim
And?
You can't make kids read... if they don't want to, they shouldn't be forced.
Let's face it - it really isn't that important, is it?
Unless you work in the trade of course...
This sounds amazingly good news . I dont think it can be true .
can you blame them?
My friends little boy has started school full time, they are supposed to take a different book home each week, he has had the same book for 3 months - because they don't have enough of the books at his level- He now refuses to read as he thinks it's boring!
I remeber being forced to read The Tiger That Came to Tea for 3 weeks..I still hate that book!!
Bad news day.
Bad news day.
'Eighty Percent of Children read at least a book a fortnight'. This isn't bad news.
You mean: 5 out of 6 children read a book a month - excellent news! Let's celebrate those kids and hope their enthusiasm rubs off on the rest.
I don't think it's a fair comparison to say 'X per cent of children read more text messages than books' (or Facebook etc) - these are methods of communication and not at all similar to books. It's a bit like saying '60% of adults prefer talking to reading poetry!' or '80% of town-dwellers spend more time using their eyes to check for oncoming traffic to looking at paintings'. It's just not the same thing!
Children are enthusiastic, avid, committed readers and this kind of worry-mongering doesn't ring true to me. Yes, it is a concern that some children just don't get encouraged to read or love reading (something that seems inconceivably sad to book lovers) but I don't think that social networking and/or mobile technology is to blame. If anything I imagine that the same children who read more than 10 books a month are the ones also madly Facebook-ing on their dads' ipads whilst the ones who sadly lack access to books also don't have as much exposure to new technology (and feel less confident uploading content/expressing themselves verbally via these means), exacerbating their isolation and lack of social mobility.
If you're a Teacher, Parent or Guardian and you haven't discovered it yet, James Patterson's website www.readkiddoread.com is a FANTASTIC resource for younger/reluctant readers.
Erm... a library? School? Friends? You don't have to own a book to have a chance at reading one.
Yep, that must be what all the children with no books at home are doing, going to the library.
It happens. I expect they pop to school every once in a while, too. Maybe that school might take their class into the library for a visit so that even if the families don't use a library their kids can have a chance to. It's radical stuff.
also in the first line "doesn't" is a contraction of "does not", therefore "1 in 6 children does not..."
:D
Well I am happy to say that my two kids can read both english and french. I have my wonderful french wife to thank for that.
I agree with some of the other comments above - the fact that 5 out of 6 kids DO read a book every month is encouraging. In this day and age, when books have to compete with so many other forms of entertainment, 5 out of 6 is pretty good.
And the thing is, there will always be people who don't like reading, in much the same way I don't like football, for example. I love reading, I depend on people reading for my job, and I do a lot of work in schools encouraging kids to read and write for pleasure.
But at the end of the day, we're all different. There is a big difference between struggling readers and those who, on reflection, just don't fancy it very much and would rather be doing something else instead. We should do everything we can to help that first group foster a love of books, but - provided they are of a reasonable standard of reading - we probably need to leave the second group be, accept books aren't their thing, and let them get on with what they do want to do.
My nephew, for example, exelled in all his school work, scored top marks for every one of his exams, and has never read a book for pleasure. He'd just rather be doing other stuff.
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