Study shows decline in reading

Estimated read time: Less than a minute

This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.

Tom Callan reportingA study released by Scholastic Inc. finds that young readers may get hooked on books but turn away when they see what's on the shelves.

That Harry Potter afterglow seems to be fading, along with the idea that the Potter series would entice young minds to keep reading.

"There's a decline of reading as children age. And it's kind of a drop off at the age of 8," said Patrick Muir with Shadow Mountain Publishing.

He says the survey discovered the problem wasn't TV, music or social life.

"One of the key reasons they found is they have difficulty finding books that they like," he said.

That's right: boredom with the content of some of the books. But the study found that some young readers are checking out books after clicking online.

E-mail: tcallan@ksl.com