Scholastic Kids & Family Reading Report

The Scholastic Kids & Family Reading Report uncovers that an overwhelming majority of parents (90%) agree that books can create opportunities for conversation. Designed to support families and make books part of growing up for every child, the Family Guide addresses a variety of developmental milestones and common conversations during each age range. In addition to a wealth of new data, this free resource includes tips, expert guidance, continued reading, and recommended book titles to ensure families feel well-equipped to put these findings into practice at home. 

The latest data from children ages 6-17 reconfirms that reading books for fun, as well as positive sentiment towards reading, decrease as kids grow up, with marked declines by age 9 that do not rebound. The Scholastic Kids & Family Reading Report has been tracking these reading attitudes and behaviors since 2010, finding both a long-term decline in frequent readers as well as a beneficial relationship between a child’s reading frequency and their own feelings of enjoyment and importance of reading books for fun. For additional data and more on these findings, visit Reading Lives of Kids and Parents.

An opinion piece in The Washington Post discusses the current literacy crisis amongst kids including these trendline findings, and talks with Sasha Quinton, EVP and President, Scholastic School Reading Events, about what can be done to reignite a passion for reading. Read the full article here.

Data from the 8^th edition of the Kids & Family Reading Report™ shows a decline since 2018 in both the number of parents who began reading aloud to their child before the age of three months and the number of parents of children ages 0-5 who have heard/received advice that children should be read aloud to from birth. However, as we’ve heard from kids and parents alike, the positive sentiment for reading aloud remains strong, giving us hope that these declines can be reversed. With the majority of parents agreeing that reading aloud is important and the majority of both parents and kids agreeing that reading aloud is/was a special time we have an opportunity to build a stronger read-aloud culture.

For recommendations on engaging titles perfect for a read-aloud, try:

- For early readers: Carina Felina, by Carmen Agra Deedy and Henry Cole; When You Can Swim, by Jack Wong

- For readers in elementary school: Save Me a Seat, by Sarah Weeks and Gita Varadarajan; The Forgotten Girl, by India Hill Brown

- For readers in middle school: Slacker, by Gordon Korman

To continue the excitement and power of the read aloud amongst a community, check out Scholastic Storyvoice, a free interactive read-aloud platform, that connects young readers to great stories, authors and one another.  

Half of parents of 6- to 17-year-olds (51%) believe their child’s mental health was negatively affected by their pandemic experiences. Dr. Linda C. Mayes, MD, Arnold Gesell Professor of Child Psychiatry, Pediatrics and Psychology, Director of the Yale Child Study Center, and a steering committee member for the Yale Child Study Center-Scholastic Collaborative for Child & Family Resilience, digs deeper into the research, including how families and educators can foster mental health through reading. Read on. 

Findings from the Scholastic Kids & Family Reading Report reinforce the instrumental role libraries play in increasing access to book for children. According to the research, 63% of children get most of their books from public, school, and classroom libraries. Children without a school library, however, face increased difficulty finding books they love.

Mirroring the sentiments and further communicating just how essential libraries are to young people everywhere, the 2023 National Student Poets—the top five youth poets from across the nation—co-authored a one-of-a-kind poem dedicated to books and libraries which was published in Literary Hub.

Children are still playing catch-up from the pandemic, making summer reading even more important. Scholastic Chief Academic Officer, Dr. Amanda Alexander, contextualizes this data and shares how educators can help strengthen summer reading connections with families. Read the article here.

Download the full, printable summer reading infographic here.