Reading Statistics
Yesterday morning as I was scrolling through recent FaceBook postings, I ran across an alarming info-graphic about reading. It had been posted by my son so I was fairly certain that the statistics were authentic (he usually does his homework), but the ever-hopeful-former-teacher in me didn’t want to believe them, so I did a little digging about the source.
That was an interesting journey in itself. The info-graphic (I love that term. It’s new to me which probably shows that I’m in one of those lesser percentage realms.) was posted in a blog called “A Father Speaks” written by a man named Jerry Russell. About the information he said: The data above was, as far as I can tell, collected by a company called The Jenkins Group, which is a vanity publishing service. I have not been able to ascertain who was polled to collect the data, or how large of a pool they collected from.
A Google search led me back to FaceBook to a series of questions asked in December 2011 by Jenna Avery and directed to the Jenkins Group. First, she wanted to know if the statistics were, indeed, from the Jenkins group Their response:
Ruth Muriel “Mona” Espy
Jenkins Group The reading statistics which are circulating on the internet have been incorrectly attributed to Jenkins Group research. The data was presented by Jerrold Jenkins in a presentation to small group publishers over 10 years ago. (It was in 2002 – SS) The data was sourced from a number of organizations including: Book Industry Study Group, American Book Sellers Institute, and U.S. News and World Report.
That information satisfied my itch for verifying the information source. I didn’t go any further with the actual questions and percentages. Like Jerry Russell, the bottom line for me is that a love of reading is first-and-foremost learned at home and instilled by parents. It seems a no-brainer but… apparently not.
My advice: if you are reading this, buy someone a book for Christmas. Preferably one a family can enjoy together. And give it to a family that might not have very many books. In fact – you know all those toy drives for needy kids – give books, instead!
Regardless of the year the survey was compiled (from a variety of sources) the reality is shocking. The time we “give” ourselves for reading, each day, is one of our most great pleasures. There is never enough shelf space for what seems to float through the doors…loved the photo of Mona…do you know what she was reading?
I have no idea what she was reading. In fact I suspect that this was one of those studio photos so popular during that period and that the book may have been a prop. However, there are many books in the children’s section of the library with her name in them (“Georgina of the Rainbows” by Annie Fellows Johnston is one) and in her later years her tastes ran to biographies or to popular authors such as Pearl Buck and Thomas Costain. Like all the Espy children, she always had one or more books going — a lifelong habit that I grew up taking for granted.
As a writer, I find the statistics depressing. I know you must feel the same way. I like Nancy’s comment. At the end of a writing day, I enjoy nothing better than to curl up with a good book. And yes, your suggestion is a good one, too, Sydney. Let everyone buy books for Christmas, preferable yours and mind.
It’s so hard to believe those statistics. In my house, both Jon and I read whenever and where ever we can. I usually have a book with me where ever I go. That’s why I need such a large purse!! Reading is one of the joys in my life. The characters become friends, I often re-read a book. Some, more than once. Our daughter takes after us and is a voracious reader. Some people just don’t know what they are missing.
I found those numbers appalling, scary, but not altogether surprising, sad to say. A woman recently told me proudly about buying, for $1.89 at a garage sale, “one of those books that has all those words in it” for her 13 year old son. I first said “Thesaurus?” Then seeing the blank look, guessed “Dictionary?” Proudly she said “Yes!” Well, that’s a start.
When I worked as a home teacher for the Los Angeles School District it was rare that I would go into a home that had any reading material.
I think my girls have always been voracious readers because I used to threaten them: “If I catch you reading one more time…”