Digital Book World was not the only place where reports were issued last week. On Monday, Scholastic released the fourth edition of its biannual “Kids & Family Reading Report.” The newest study focused on the effects of the growth in e-books and digital reading devices on the reading habits of children aged 6–17 as well as their parents.
Although e-books have been slower to catch on among children than adults, the survey found that 46% of kids 6–17 have read e-books, up from 25% in 2010. The number of boys who read e-books rose at a slightly faster rate than the number of girls, but more girls (47%) read e-books than boys (44%) last fall. Reading on iPads or other tablets increased the most between 2010 and 2012, jumping from 3% to 21%, putting tablets second behind laptops and netbooks as the most popular devices for digital reading.
In some other highlights, 75% of children said they read e-books at home, followed by 27% who have read e–books at school; 13% said they read e-books at the library. More access to e-books would result in more children reading for fun, the survey found, with 49% of children reporting that they would read more if they had greater access to e-books, up from 33% in 2010. While children said having more e-books would encourage them to read for fun more, the overall percentage of children who read books for fun fell to 34% in last year’s survey, from 37% in 2010, as their use of technology increased.
The percentage of 9–17 year olds who said they will continue to read print books fell to 58% from 66% in 2010.
