Read On, Teenagers of the World! Reading 'turn-off' for many teens [BBC News] "A third of Scotland's teenagers do not read for pleasure and one in five say books are a waste of time, Scottish Executive research has revealed." [Library Link of the Day] Of course this article takes the negative view (i.e., half-empty glass). Isn't it wonderful that two-thirds of Scottish teenagers do enjoy reading? More interesting to me are some statistics buried near the end of this article that indicate that young people who read anything -- magazines, newspapers, fiction, internet articles -- score higher in reading tests than those who don't read, and "only the reading of comics failed to have a positive correlation with reading scores." I wonder if graphic novels count as comics. The ones I've read have fairly sophisticated vocabulary, even if not as much of it as a regular novel. In any case, read on, Scottish teenagers, and may your American, Peruvian, Nigerian, etc., etc., contemporaries do the same. 4:35:28 PM     [comment []];[]

BILL'S BEST BOOKS: A Monthly Menu: June 2004 [ALAN--The Assembly on Literature for Adolescents of NCTE] 4:04:18 PM     [comment []];[]