Issue 22 Autumn 1996 Young People's Reading at the End of the Century: A Summary of the Children's Literature Research Centre Survey of Young People's Reading Habits Kimberley Reynolds	Collections under which this       article appears:       Reading Related Articles or Resources

READING AND THE SOCIAL SELF
The final decade of the millenium is witnessing huge changes in the nature of reading; particularly with the spread of electronic publications and increasingly widespread access to the Internet. While understanding of what the verb "to read" means has usefully expanded to encompass the reading of all kinds of sign systems 1, we still live in a text-based society, and young people need to acquire traditional reading skills if they are to function effectively.

But the act of reading, like the teaching of reading, is not neutral. The teaching of reading at school goes beyond the ability to decode groups of letters; it also involves teaching pupils to identify 'right' readings (that is, those which will be acceptable to examiners). Similarly, for young people, who become increasingly adept at subverting authority and orthodoxies (for instance, through fashion, music and the education system), reading can be a particularly important source of information - both official and unofficial - and a locus of resistance. Reading, after all, is an approved activity and one which is inextricably bound up with tradition.

Widespread anxiety about declining reading standards and the future of the book (ancient preoccupations which resurface in each generation and in response to every technological change) have made it a commonplace that "reading is good"; most people have forgotten that little more than a century ago reading was feared for its potential to spread radicalism and to infect the population with unsuitable aspirations 2.

Perhaps the most important feature of reading - especially the reading of fiction - is its ability to enable the reader to experiment with different identities and scenarios. This invariably involves the acquisition of vocabularies and discourses which in turn promote new ways of thinking: it is only possible to think through language. Thus reading is instrumental in the way young people construct the world and the way they fit into it.

For these reasons and indeed for others which I have not had space to cover here, it is important to understand what young people are reading, what they say about the role reading plays in their lives, and the opportunities they have/make for reading. However, in England, no sustained attempt to study young people's reading habits has ever been undertaken. The Children's Literature Research Centre at Roehampton Institute London has recently completed the first in a series of five-yearly surveys which will provide a series of 'snap-shots' of young people's reading habits. Each survey will provide a substantial body of information in its own right; when compared, the studies will make visible patterns, changes and developments in what is being read, by whom, and why.

The first survey involved 8,834 pupils between the ages of 4 -16 in a sample designed to represent the school population in England 3. Within this sample, respondents were randomly selected to ensure that those participating were not all keen readers. Indeed, at one point in the questionnaire pupils were asked what kind of reader they felt they were, and as can be seen in the graphs in Figure 1, there is good representation from each of the groups (enthusiastic, average, reluctant).

All pupils were asked to complete questionnaires; some were also involved in follow-up interviews. Questionnaires were designed to be appropriate for the different Key Stages, and with the exception of KS1 pupils, whose responses were gathered in small groups by teachers, were completed anonymously. All pupils were asked about the kind of reading they engage in (all forms of reading - from books to comics, health leaflets, electronic books and audio tapes - were considered); how they came into contact with what they read; why they chose what they read; who paid for their reading matter; and what leisure activities they took part in. Additionally, KS3 and KS4 pupils were asked about the role reading plays in their understanding of a range of social issues - from bullying, divorce and unemployment to pregnancy, substance abuse and the law. Quantitative data were collected through multiple choice options; pupils also had the opportunity to complete open questions about such things as favourite (or particularly influential) writers, titles and illustrators. The result is a huge body of information which can be interrogated from many perspectives. For the purposes of this article, I have concentrated on information about libraries, librarians and the strategies young people say they use when choosing what to read.

CHOOSING ... BY THE COVER!
The survey team were particularly interested in identifying what young people say about how they choose books, for understanding the selection process may help those involved in bringing children and texts (from comics to novels and electronic publications) together to find ways of identifying what kinds of texts work with what kinds of readers. Equally important is the possibility that the information provided in response to the questionnaire and interviews can offer insights into why some young people regularly choose to read material which disappoints them while rejecting texts which are likely to give them pleasure.

Responses to the question, "How often do you choose a book because ...?" show that for the majority of young people at KS1 (the age group 4 - 7), when most are in the early stages of becoming independent readers, illustrations are the single most important factor influencing choice. 68% of girls and 61% of boys say that they "often" or "very often" choose a book because of the illustrations. This is not surprising as the majority of books for this age group (including those in reading schemes) are picture books. By the age of six or seven most pupils move on to 'chapter' books, but these too generally have illustrations throughout.

Margaret Meek has emphasised the importance of illustrations: "The effect of illustrations on children's early understanding of stories can be quite long-lasting, because striking pictures, those that remain in the memory, work, as ancient illustrators knew well, as icons" 4. Although Meek is talking about the relationship between texts and illustrations for relatively new readers, the power of effective illustrations for readers of all ages is implicit in her observation. It is perhaps worth noting that those who in adult life identify themselves as bibliophiles are frequently drawn to illustrated books - from attractive early manuscripts through Victorian novels and into modern illustrated editions produced by groups such as the Folio Society.

In recent years there has been a tendency to increase the illustrative dimension of books for relatively new readers through such things as the incorporation of 'graphic' elements (speech bubbles, typographical commentary and so on, largely borrowed from strip cartoons) in series such as 'Jets' and 'Jumbo-Jets'. As well, considerable energy has been put into demonstrating the suitability of picture books for older readers. Nonetheless, there remains a sense that real readers do not require pictures. Given the early pleasure in illustrations and the many ways in which images can support readers, it seems likely that this contributes to the decline in voluntary reading as young people simultaneously mature and progress through the education system.

The second most important factor influencing the choice of KS1 pupils is the appearance of the cover, with 50% of girls and 47% of boys saying that they "often" or "very often" choose a book because of its cover. Publishers know well the importance of the cover in attracting young readers, and regularly change them in ways which they think will help sell books. While this is certainly important, it also creates problems. For instance, changing fashions in cover/book design rapidly work to make previous editions look dated, and as many schools, libraries and families cannot afford to renew their book shelves it is frequently the case that good books are unread because they no longer look sufficiently exciting and contemporary to potential readers.

Aspects of the cover which play an increasingly important role in the choosing process as pupils mature are the 'blurb' and other bits of writing (for instance, extracts from reviews, recommendations from well-known figures, and information about prizes won by the book/author). By the age of eleven over 75% of all respondents say they choose books because the blurb (often repeated and expanded inside the books) makes the story sound interesting.

At KS3-4 (11 - 16 years) the blurb on the back or inside the cover becomes a major factor in book choice; particularly with girls. Boys' lesser dependence on the blurb is part of a larger picture which suggests that boys do not focus on one aspect of a book when choosing what to read, rather they are alert to a range of factors. When completing the questionnaire, KS3-4 boys chose the options shown in Figure 2 in significant numbers.

By contrast, KS3-4 girls say that the blurb and the title (KS3 50%; KS4 52%) are the most important factors affecting the way they choose which books to read.

Clearly book covers are perceived by young people to be very important in the process of choosing books. For children at KS2, the most significant aspect of the cover was the picture (the "often"/"very often" options were chosen by 46% of girls and 54% of boys). Although the influence of the picture on the cover declines with age, it continues to be important, with 34% of KS4 girls and 41% of KS4 boys choosing the option "the appearance of the cover" as something which "often"/"very often" influences their choice of book.

The appearance of the book goes beyond the cover image to embrace more general aspects such as style, design and typography. With age, these factors featured more prominently in how young people say they choose books, with increasing numbers of them saying that when they choose a book because of the appearance of the cover it is because "it looks up-to-date/modern".

Especially given the heated debates which have periodically circulated around issues such as racism, sexism and classism in children's books, it is interesting that, while young people want books to look acceptable, they do not seem to be particularly concerned with finding images of themselves reflected in the books they read. In response to the question, "If the main character in a story is a human being, how important is it that he or she: lives in the same country as you; comes from the same country as your parents; has the same colour skin as you; lives in the same time as you; has the same interests as you; is of the same religion as you; is of the same sex as you; is the same age as you? [very important; important; not important; don't know]", none of the options relating to sex, colour, or country of origin were said to be "important" or "very important" by more than 17% of KS3-4 respondents, while those which reflect contemporaneity (living at the same time, sharing the same interests and being the same age) scored considerably higher. Significantly, all options were chosen less frequently at KS4 than at KS3, and with the exception of the option "lives in the same time as you", more boys than girls say they think these aspects are "important" or "very important" when they are reading fiction.

The significance of these findings is not clear. It may be that, because of the work done by committed individuals and organisations in the past, there is now an acceptable range of life styles, active characters of both sexes, and backgrounds in the reading matter produced for young people. It is equally possible that the very nature of reading (and this will pertain more to longer texts rather than to picture-books) means that readers, who are actively creating the texts for themselves as they read, insert the images they need into the text: what they are reading is as much themselves as the words on the page. This may account for phenomena such as the popularity of Enid Blyton's works in countries as culturally different from England in the 1940s as Japan in the 1990s.

PEOPLE AFFECTING CHOICE
Pupils were asked, "Who helps you choose which books to read?" The overwhelming majority of pupils at all Key Stages (79% at KS1 rising to 91% at KS4) say that they usually choose books by themselves. Mothers (23% at KS1; 7% at KS4) and teachers or someone else from school were categories most frequently named as influencing choice. 30% of KS1 pupils said they were helped by "someone from school"; 6% of KS4 pupils said they were helped by school librarians and 12% by teachers. Similarly low figures occurred in questions relating to local public librarians: although 32% of KS1, 49% of KS2 and 46% of KS3 pupils say they "often" or "very often" borrow books from their local library, only 8%, 11% and 8% respectively say that local librarians help them choose which books to read. Perhaps more disturbingly, at KS4, when pupils are preparing for GCSEs, library usage declines to 35%, and only 4% of pupils say they are helped by librarians. Since many pupils say that one of the greatest difficulties they have is finding what they want to read, it is a pity that more use is not made of the excellent skills possessed by most librarians.

These responses suggest that, contrary to the current policy of many local authorities, there is not only the need for specialist children's librarians, but that the services they provide should be more widely advertised. It is not the case that young people refuse to be helped. The majority of respondents say that they would appreciate more help in choosing books and they took the opportunity to suggest what form this could take. The three most frequently mentioned kinds of help wanted were (in order of frequency):

1. Personal help from family, friends, teachers, librarians, etc;
2. Written or computerised listings with reviews; and
3. Changes to the display/shelving and choices of books available (for example, by theme, age group, etc).

There was a clear correlation between young people who receive help in choosing what to read and those who regard themselves as "enthusiastic" readers. Particularly in the case of boys, who are less likely to be avid readers than are girls, it was noticeable that those who said they read stories "often" or "very often" frequently said a family member helped them to choose what to read.

FAVOURITE READING
There were no surprises in the responses given to questions about the most popular author and illustrator: Roald Dahl and Quentin Blake were clear favourites at all Key Stages. Similarly, it was not surprising that the most popular genres overall are comedy, adventure and horror. Disappointingly few respondents expressed a preference for reading poetry, but reading as an activity fared well in the face of inexorably mounting competition. The question, "How much time do you think you spend reading for pleasure most weeks?" generated the responses shown in Figure 3.

These responses only relate to fiction; other kinds of reading (comics, non-fiction, magazines, poetry and books on audio tapes) were also selected by many pupils. With this in mind it is clear that reading is a popular activity; more popular at most Key Stages than anything other than watching TV/videos, listening to music and being with friends. While much anxiety has been expressed about the time spent using computers (including reading books on CD-ROMs), the evidence from the survey strongly indicates that young people - and especially girls - value traditional printed texts and do not want them to be replaced by electronic texts.

Clearly the most popular form of reading for all age groups is magazines. These are read widely by both boys and girls, and were repeatedly cited as important sources of information and support for those dealing with a range of problems _ from incest, bullying and divorce to substance abuse and pregnancy. As in interviews and follow-up discussions young people have made it clear that they do not want adults to become involved in their magazine reading, there seems to be no place for them in libraries or even in classrooms. It is, however, in forums such as these that much of the work of defining the self through reading is carried out _ particularly for girls aged between 11 and 16 _ 63% of whom say they read magazines three or more hours each week. Accordingly, when considering the role of reading in the lives of young people and the strategies they adopt for reading, magazines should be given due consideration.

FURTHER INFORMATION
In a piece of this length it is impossible adequately to cover the information collected during this project. For instance, every question asked can be broken down into responses generated by variables such as age, class, region, type of school, environment (for example, rural, metropolitan), kind of reader and so on. A report of the study containing both question-by-question commentaries and more extended analyses of particular issues is available from the Children's Literature Research Centre, Downshire House, Roehampton Institute, Roehampton Lane, London SW15 4HT, price £30.

Notes

Dr Kimberley Reynolds is Reader in Children's Literature at Roehampton Institute, London.